


House of Papyrus

by aphVirginia



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bittybones, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader-Insert, Underfell Papyrus, Underswap Papyrus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-07-11 07:14:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7035328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphVirginia/pseuds/aphVirginia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You'd just been fired from your job, but as luck would have it there's a maid position in a house fulls of Sans-es!!! Oh wait, no there isn't... But there is a position open for a house of Papyruses!!!</p><p>This is a reader-insert fanfic, where the reader's gender is ambiguous. There will be more tags as things progress, as well as different Papyruses from other AU's; it won't just be three Papyruses the entire time.</p><p>This is also based on House of Sans by Moontamble, so feel free to check it out!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Never thought you'd get a job like this

You pace back and forth, phone clutched in your clammy hands. Tears filled your eyes, and it took all of your willpower not to burst into tears as your boss hung up on the other line.

Today was the day you were supposed to be paid.

Today was the day you’d been fired.

Honestly, you should have seen it coming. Your boss was a massive tool, and had said many things that you didn’t agree with. Mostly about monsters, and about how they should “go back into the dirty hole in the ground that they came from,” which seemed incredibly stupid to you. He also had rather unsupportive views on LGBT+ individuals, along with all women. You’d kept quiet about your viewpoints on these topics, though your fellow employees… Well, they got it out of you. Once they did, they found that they loved to frame you for all the awful shit they did. Assholes, the lot of them.

Recently, your boss had called you to his office to question you about a number of things. Things ranging from theft of office supplies to harming another worker. Each and every one you debunked, able to cite times and places you were at when each alleged offense had taken place… But you knew he’d already made up his mind.

Even so, you’d hoped he’d think about what you’d said. That somehow, over what you knew would be your last week, he would have a change of heart and realize that you weren’t as awful a person as the others claimed you were.

Hope, obviously, hadn’t been enough.

* * *

You’d been fired a few days ago. Rent for your cozy, one-room apartment was due in about two weeks and you knew you’d be kicked out this time. Shmoozing Amy, the little old woman who owned the building, wouldn’t cut it. She’d already cut you some slack with payments as is.

Amy was a lovely woman, the kind who would bake cookies for her grandkids every day if she’d had any. Her tenants had become her children, you thought. She always made sure everybody was doing alright, and had even offered to cut your rent in half so that you could afford it--you’d refused, stating that she still needed to eat. Still, she’d lowered the amount that you had to pay in the contract for the upcoming year. You’d planned to sign it, but now…

Now, you would have to leave.

* * *

The conversation had been hard. Amy looked so upset when you told her that you could no longer afford to live in her apartments, and had even been persuaded into staying for tea while she let the information soak in. She’d made Earl Grey, one of your favorites, and had handed you the job listings in the newspaper.

“Even if you can’t afford to live here, I still want to hear from you.” She’d said, tears held back by an apparent force of sheer determination. “You’re one of my favorite tenants. Don’t feel shy, stop by and say hello every once in awhile.”

“Of course, ma’am.” You’d smiled at her, looking through the job listings and praying that you’d find one that gave you the money to stay where you were.

* * *

You gave up on finding a job that allowed you to stay in your apartment after a week and a half. All the well-paying jobs required more experience than you had, and a cashier’s job wouldn’t give you enough money to pay rent. Amy was letting you stay for an extra two weeks after pay should be due in case you found a job that would let you stay there, but you knew it wouldn’t happen.

There’d been one job that had stayed in the listings the entire time you’d been searching, one that had peaked your interest. It was a listing to be a maid in a monster-filled house, for some sort of “social experiment” or something. You pulled out the scrap of paper you’d written the number for it down on, and stared long and hard at it.

There was no lie that it paid better than your old job. The pay rate had steadily but slowly gone up the longer they’d been without someone to take the job, and now it was easily thirty dollars an hour. All you had to do was clean stuff and live there, and they’d pay you for each hour you lived there. A full 24 hours every week…

You could recall the exact wording by heart. You’d read over it so many times that you could recite it in your sleep. 

“ **Human wanted for maid position in a house with monsters. Also will be part of social study between the two races. Housing, food, and pay will be provided as a part of the job. House located on 999 Tantabus Drive. Contact Dr. Alphys at (XXX)XXX-XXXX for more information or to schedule an appointment for an interview and to meet the tenants.** ”

For the first time since you’d been handed the job listings by Amy, you called the number.

* * *

“I-I-I’m sorry, b-b-but the job has j-just been taken.” The tinny, nasally voice on the other side of the line stuttered, sounding rather upset. You assumed it was Dr. Alphys, since that’s who the advertisement said to call.

“Oh. That… That’s fine.” You try your best to not sound upset, but it sounds fake even to your ears. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”

“W-wait!!!” Your finger hovered over the hang up button. Was she actually going to hire you after all?

“W-We have a, uh, second s-social study that we’re about to do. I-If you can wait a few days, you can be a part of that one… The, u-uh, the pay would be the same.” You nodded, then realized that she couldn’t see you nod.

“Sounds good to me. Do you need to interview me, or is that going to happen on the move-in day?”

“I-if it’s not too much trouble, could I meet you about an hour from now at a coffee shop called, u-uh… Shoot, what was it called?” You smiled at the lizard’s antics--you were sure that she was a rather nice individual. Maybe you and her could become friends… You wondered if she liked anime. And video games. Maybe she plays Portal…. You loved that game.

“Tsarbucks?” You offer, trying to jog her memory as well as clearing your own thoughts.

“Yes, that’s it!!! It’ll be on 32nd and Main Street; you can’t miss it.” You glance out of your apartment’s dirty window; you lived on 32nd street, and you could just barely see the coffee shop from where you sat. You had plenty of time to pick an outfit and meet this monster woman.

“Sounds good to me. Don’t worry if I show up a bit late, though; the street gets crowded around then.”

“O-Okay. See you then!!!” The call ended, and you realized that you’d forgotten to tell her your name.

Still… Things were finally looking up for you.

* * *

Things were not looking up for you.

You had found a cute outfit that was also clean; a black hoodie with the aquarius symbol on it and a pair of jeans that made you feel confident. That had taken half an hour, since your room was an absolute wreck. Your mother would tell you that it looked like a tornado had touched down in it, but you knew where everything was. Now you saw her point, since your jeans had been under a bajillion sketchbooks and notes.

Once you’d gotten your outfit on, you’d left your hazard of a room and made your way to the cafe, only to get stopped by one of your hallmates. They’d needed help moving a mattress into their apartment, and that had taken you twenty minutes since they’d wedged the damn thing in their doorway; now you were rushing to the coffee shop, praying to any and all the deities that had been smiling upon you that you would make it before Alphys left out of boredom. You could see the shop, could smell the delicious aroma of coffee, and yet…. You were five minutes late.

You entered the shop, eyes frantically darting about the store. You didn’t see anyone who looked like they could be Alphys; no bunny monster or fish woman or dinosaur or whatever she looked like. Still, you were there, so you might as well get your coffee.

You claimed a seat in a booth while you waited for your drink. You could see outside the shop, and had a clear view of the doorway and the coffeeline; after glancing around, you pulled out your phone and began scrolling through your Tumblr app.

You’d been using Tumblr for awhile when you heard the little shop’s bell ding. You’d already gotten your coffee, and were sipping it when you glanced towards the door--you nearly spat your drink out.

A yellow monster had entered the store. A yellow monster in a lab coat, looking around furiously like she was supposed to meet someone. A pink phone was clutched in a scaley hand, small Alphonse and Mew Mew Kissy Cutie charms dangling from it. This, you thought, must be Alphys.

You stood up from your booth and made your way over to her. Your coffee was in one hand, and the other went to tap her shoulder.

“You’re Doctor Alphys, right?”

“I-I, um… Yes. Y-you’re the human that c-c-called me for the job, r-right?” This was definitely her; her voice had given it away.

“Yep, that’d be me!” You smiled warmly at her, taking a sip of your coffee. “I can wait for you to get some coffee before we start the interviewing, if you’d like.”

“N-no, it’s fine. I already kept you w-waiting…” Her tail swished side to side in agitation or unease--you couldn’t tell--even though you could tell that she very clearly wanted some coffee. Poor dino had bags under her eyes the size of the moon.

“Here, you can have mine.” You hold out the half-full coffee, still smiling warmly at her.

After a moment of hesitation, Alphys took the coffee, and you two reclaimed your booth to talk.

* * *

“... So what you’re saying is that I’ll be rooming with a bunch of monsters, who are all technically the same monster?” You asked, signing the contract that listed what you were supposed to do while at your job.

“Y-yeah. Right now there’s only three that have confirmed, but I’m sure more will come later. Most of them just haven’t gotten back to me, since I only sent out the request a week ago.”

The whole thing seemed somewhat silly. You were going to live with monsters, all of whom were the same person but not really, for science. At least you could keep all of your clothes and stuff; Alphys had apparently given you the home’s master bedroom, which meant that it would all fit. Plus, everything was furnished, so you didn’t need to go buy furniture that you couldn’t afford.

“Okay. So, I have… 3 days to pack up my stuff?” Alphys nodded, pulling out her cellphone before freezing. If the redness that now dusted her cheeks was anything to go by, then you’d say it was embarrassment.

“I-I forgot t-t-to ask for y-your name…” She whispered, hiding her face in her claws. “I-I’m so sorry, I d-didn’t mean to f-forget--” You reached across the table, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine, really. The name’s Y/N, though I prefer going by Wheatley.”

“F-from Aperture Science?” You blinked, surprised; then you beamed, a small giggle escaping your lips.

“Yes!!! You’ve played Portal and Portal 2, right? Oh, who’s your favorite character?” You had a feeling you’d get along with Doctor Alphys just fine.

* * *

 

Today was the day. Your stuff was all in boxes, save some necessities that you’d stuffed in your trusty backpack. A change of clothes, your wallet, your laptop, phone, Ipod, chargers, headphones, and a few other items were tucked in it. You’d placed one of your small sketchbooks near the opening, along with a few pencils and pens.

You took a deep breath, turning to look around the room. It seemed… Strangely empty, now that your stuff was all packed up. Your posters and drawings were off the walls, and most of your clothes had fit into one box. The rest of your odds and ends had taken up a few other boxes, and since you hadn’t furnished the place it was completely empty. Well, it still had the mattress, but that was never yours to begin with. You let out a soft sigh, slinging on your backpack and grabbing one of your boxes of stuff.

It was time to leave this place.

Amy had lent you a wheely thing, something to move your boxes easier; you loaded it up. All of your stuff only took one trip. One trip down the elevator, and there was no going back. Each step echoed in the empty hallway, the cart’s squeaky wheel sounding like a banshee screech in the stifling silence.

You pushed the elevator call button, then mentally looked yourself over. You’d swapped the aquarius hoodie for your lucky hoodie -- a dull red hoodie with a bright red gear printed to the center -- and had put on your favorite skinny jeans and comfy leather boots. The color combo looked fantastic, but it only worked in the fall; it wasn’t warm enough for winter. Still, you’d put some effort into how you looked, since you’d be meeting your new roommates today. You hoped you’d like them.

The ding of the elevator startled you from your thoughts, and you wheeled in your stuff before having it take you to the first floor. The trip was too fast; you wanted to linger and wait, to absorb the atmosphere you’d lived in since you’d graduated college, but you had to go.

You were surprised by the sight of Alphys and a tall skeleton monster in the lobby. Alphys was in her usual lab coat, whereas the skeleton was in a hoodie and shorts. She beamed when she saw you, hustling quickly to help you pull your stuff out of the elevator.

“S-so, t-this is Papyrus. Papyrus, this is Wheatley.”

“Yo.” The skeleton’s voice was surprisingly deep; he sounded a lot like Skeletor, but without the shouting.

“Hey. You got a nickname to call you by? Alphys explained things to me already.” You gave the clarification, since he’d looked confused by the question.

“Orange. Fell is tall, dark, and emo. And I’m pretty sure that ‘tale Papyrus was still being stubborn and refused to go by a nickname.”

Suddenly, his left eye glowed orange. All thoughts about the nicknames left your mind as your boxes of stuff were surrounded in an orange hue and lifted from the wheely thing. They meandered through the air as if they didn’t have a care in the world, yet the skeleton seemed to be in complete control of their actions.

You’d never seen monster magic before, and watched in awe as they were floated towards the door of the building. Alphys was quick to open the door, and you trailed along as both monsters loaded your belongings into the trunk of what you assumed was Alphys’s car.

“First time you’ve seen monster magic?” Orange inquired, smiling a bit when you nodded.

“That was… really cool. Is that all the magic you can do, or is there other stuff too?”

“There’s other stuff.” He levitated himself and--to your absolute surprise--deposited himself in your arms. He chuckled when you blushed beet red, his magic making his weight bearable. “But I get tired easily, so I don’t use it often.”

“I-I-- Um--”

“P-Papyrus, Wheatley, c-could you get into the car? W-we need to get to your n-n-new home… I think Pa- I-I mean, ‘tale, was going to try and make spaghetti.” Alphys was smiling, and had her phone camera pointed at the two of you. She’d probably taken a picture, but you couldn’t find it in you to care. You glanced down at Orange, halfway through setting him down, when you noticed a light orange dusting across where his cheeks would be if he were human. Was… was it a blush?

It was gone once Orange was on his feet, a light smile replacing it.

“You might want to convince ‘Tale to not do that. Say that Wheatley can’t eat glitter…” He held the door open for you, shutting it after you’d scooted into the passenger’s seat and had bucked yourself in. Your backpack was at your feet, and you smiled warmly at Alphys.

“Are all the Papyrus’s like him?” You asked, indicating the skeleton who was walking around the car to the free seat behind Alphys--one of your boxes had claimed the seat behind you.

“No… But you’ll see. They’re all nice, or else I wouldn’t have offered to have them join the study.” Orange opened the car door, preventing you from asking any other questions.

You couldn’t wait to meet the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed what I have thus far!!! I'd love to hear some feedback and whatnot, but thank you for reading.
> 
> Have a nice day!!!


	2. New House, New Room, New Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!!! Before we get started, I'd like to let everyone know that this fic has a blog now!!!
> 
> Go to http://house-of-papyrus.tumblr.com/ if you want to chat with me or ask me things, along with getting fic updates and all of that fun stuff :3
> 
> You can also message me on land-of-dragons-and-frogs.tumblr.com if I don't see your ask; for the most part, the Papyrus updates will be on it's specific blog ^w^
> 
> Side note-- UF Papyrus's speech will be in bold.
> 
> UF Paps= Fell  
> UT Paps= 'Tale  
> US Paps= Orange

You and Alphys talked about a lot of things on the way to your new home. You’d put anime soundtracks to the radio and all of you tried to guess where each one came from; Alphys (or Alphy, as you’d started calling her) managed to get most of them right, and Orange got all of the Ouran Host Club ones from sheer guesswork. Then, you’d thrown questions about your favorite games. It turns out that Orange had never played Portal or Portal 2, and you promised him that you’d let him play on your laptop once things were unpacked. The three of you were in the middle of a heated discussion about Homestuck and whether Act 7 was a good ending to the story (Papyrus claimed yes, Alphys strongly disagreed, and you were trying to argue a headcanon of yours) when you reached the place you would be staying.

To say that it was large would be an understatement. The house was riding the line between being a massive house and a small mansion, with fancy old brickwork and white-painted windowsills and doors. It had a lot of charm and beauty, and was obviously well cared for. So long as it had wifi, heating, air conditioning, and a metric shit ton of hot water, you’d be fine.

“Let’s make the trip easy…” Orange said, snapping his fingers. Your stuff--all of it, backpack included--disappears. Your jaw drops, yet both Alphys and Orange act like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Awwww, c’mon, don’t give me that look. Your stuff is in your room; I’m sure ‘Tale would love to show it to you. If you play your cards right, ‘Fell might leave the kitchen with you, meaning I can get some decent food for us.” You raise an eyebrow, giving him a steady look. Things would not be good if your new roomies burned the house down.

“H-he, uh, he’s right. They b-b-both put glitter in their spaghetti sauce.” Alphys had lost most of her stuttering and nervousness on the trip here; it made you happy that the dinosaur felt comfortable enough around you to lose it.

“... Glitter. Really?” Maybe it was edible glitter, something that made some form of sense.

“Yeah. ‘Tale can't cook for shit.” Orange sighs, climbing out of the car and stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Wouldn't want you to get food poisoning on your first day here.”

Before you could comment, the door was flung open; two tall skeletons stood bickering within.

“ **Glitter is NOT something you put in spaghetti sauce!!!** ” screeches one of them. This skeleton was in all black and red; torn-up red scarf, black armored chestplate with matching pointy shoulder pads, black skinny jeans, and what appeared to be badly dyed black cowboy boots.

Now you knew who “Tall, black, and Emo” was… You hope that the skeleton won’t play screamo or other loud rock-esque music at midnight. You’d had a college roommate that had done so, and you’d proceeded to pull their power cords out. Many, many times.

“GLITTER IS FOR SPECIAL FRIENDS! AND THE HUMAN IS A NEW SPECIAL FRIEND!!!” The other skeleton shrieks, just as loud as Fell was. This skeleton wore a similar red scarf as Fell, yet it lacked the holes and tears that his counterpart had. His battle armor was shiny and silver, and almost too shiney in the bright sunlight. He wore soft red boxing gloves with matching red rain boots, and a black leotard that covered his arm and leg bones. From process of elimination, this skeleton was probably ‘Tale.

“‘Fell, ‘Tale, calm yourselves. The human’s here; they go by Wheatley.” Both tall, arguing skeletons silenced themselves. Fell looked at you with some sort of disgust or disdain, whereas ‘Tale looked as though he’d just been given a kitten and it had given him a small kitten lick.

“HELLO, HUMAN!!! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS--”

“ **He isn’t that great; he can’t even make spaghetti right.** ” Fell interjects, turning his head to glare at his bubbly and energetic counterpart.

“--AM SURE THAT WE WILL BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS!!! NYEH HEH HEH!!!”

“Hey ‘Tale, Fell, why don’t you two show the human to their room. Their stuff is already there, but they might need some help unpacking.”

“BUT WHAT ABOUT MY SPAGHETTI?”

“It’s not going anywhere.”

“BUT--” You tune out the argument over who should show you to your room, turning to Alphys and smiling warmly at her.

“W-well, I-I-I’ve gotta go. Undyne a-and I have an anime to finish.” Alphys re-starts her car, but before she could leave you tap on the glass of the driver’s side window. She rolls it down, pretending not to notice the spaghetti argument going on in the doorway between the three skeletons.

“When you finish the series, let me know--I’ve not seen Full Metal Alchemist yet, and it seems like an anime you’d like.” Alphys beams happily at you, a small squeak escaping her mouth.

“Oh my gosh, yes!!! Here, let me give you my number--You text me to let me know it’s you.” She digs up a pen in her car, writing her cell phone number down on your palm. You were quick to punch it into your phone, sending her a photo of the arguing skeletons entitled “this is my life now.”

You watch Alphys drive away, before turning towards the arguing skeletons.

“No, glitter is not something you put in food. It can really hurt a human, especially if their digestive system is weak.”

“GLITTER IS WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL…” ‘Tale looked like he was about to cry. Poor skeleton really wanted to add glitter to his pasta sauce… You walk over to the door, where Fell was glaring daggers at ‘Tale, and Orange was trying to pacify the situation. 

“Hey ‘Tale, don’t worry about the glitter. Anything you cook is special; besides, I’m sure it tastes just fine without it.” You smile warmly at him, ignoring Fell’s look of surprise and Orange’s look of relief. “Besides, if nobody can agree on how to cook spaghetti, I can make it.”

“NO. YOU JUST GOT HERE, IT WOULDN’T BE VERY KIND TO MAKE YOU COOK THE MEAL.”

“Well, I sat in the car with them and brought their stuff. Why don’t you and Fell show them to their room, help them unpack a little.”

“THAT’S A WONDERFUL IDEA!!!” ‘Tale bounces with excitement. As in, literally bounced. He was so hyper, you wonder if he might have consumed coffee or something before your arrival. Still, the fact that he was no longer sad was a vast improvement. “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SHOW YOU TO YOUR ROOM! NYEH HEH HEH!!!” He ducks inside the house, waiting for you with seemingly minimal patience.

“Fell, do you want to come too?” You ask, looking up at the tall skeleton. You heard ‘Tale say something in the background, but you were more focused on Fell’s look of absolute surprise. His cheekbones had a very slight reddish hue… A blush? You weren’t sure, you hadn’t gotten a good look at him beforehand.

“ **...Sure. I guess so.** ” He meandered inside the house, followed by Orange and yourself. Orange shut the door behind you, flipping on the lights to reveal the interior decor.

It was painfully obvious which skeletons had done which rooms. Fell’s handiwork was with the darker colors, ‘Tale’s was with the brighter colors, and Orange had added the functional stuff like furniture. It was a kaleidoscope of clashing consistency, and if you weren’t sure you’d upset one of the skeletons you’d have commented on it.

“HUMAN!!! YOUR ROOM IS UPSTAIRS, RIGHT BETWEEN MINE AND FELL’S. I PICKED OUT THE PAINT FOR THE WALLS, AND HE PICKED OUT THE FURNITURE.” ‘Tale scampered up the stairs, followed by a much less energetic Fell.

“ **Orange said the color combination was pretty good, though I liked my color choices better.** ” You nod, climbing up the stairs after the two skeletons. You glance back, thinking that Orange might want to follow; where did he go? You guess that he teleported himself, since he did the same thing to your stuff… Oh well. You’ll have to thank him for it later on.

“I dunno… What colors did you have picked out?” You turn back to Fell, walking next to him down the hallway. The floor was creaky and old, meaning your habit of getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning and eating snacks would have to end. A pity; you’d miss doing that most of all. Maybe the skeletons would be deep sleepers?

“ **Some dark blues and purples and whatnot. ‘Tale said that you’d want brighter colors, and probably some glow in the dark stars… I got to pick the bedspread. You can thank me later.** ”

“HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR ROOM.” ‘Tale exclaimes, gesturing towards the third door on the left. He hadn’t opened it, most likely because he wanted to see your reaction; you and Fell reached the door, and without hesitation you opened it.

The style clash was… surprisingly unnoticable. The two must have actually tried to get the colors to work together, since it didn’t strain your eyes. The walls were a soft blue color; it was almost white, like a painting canvas. The dark wooden floor was softened by a deep blue rug that covered most of the floor, leaving a gap for the two doors on one side of the room that was most likely the closet and bathroom--your boxes were lined up on the open strip, most likely to avoid obscuring the view. The room was furnished with a four-post bed, side table, dresser, and desk with a spinny chair. What drew your attention almost immediately was the bedspread; it was space themed. Pillows, sheets, everything. The best thing was that this was the set you’d been unable to afford for the longest time; you nearly cried from the sight of such beautiful nerd sheets.

You heard the skeletons speaking, but all you heard was a buzzing noise. This…

This was one of the best things that had happened to you in a long, long time.

You turn and hug Fell and ‘Tale tightly, beaming happily. You think you mumble a thank you, but you aren’t sure. Two sets of bony arms circle around you, one much more hesitantly than the other.

“YOU ARE VERY WELCOME, HUMAN. I AM VERY GLAD YOU LIKE OUR CHOICES.”

“ **... Yeah. What he said.** ” You let go of your hug, peering up to see both skeletons with orange and red cheekbones.

“Thank you. This is one of the best things that’s happened to me in a while…” You feel something wet trickle down your cheek--shit, were you crying? You rub your hands over your eyes and come back with streaks of liquid happiness.

“HUMAN, PLEASE DO NOT CRY!!!” ‘Tale sounds worried, and scoops you into a hug that lifted you off the ground. “D-DID WE DO SOMETHING WRONG?”

“No, I-I’m just really happy.” You mumble, rubbing at your eyes. “C’mon, can you two help me unpack my stuff? I-I’d really appreciate it…”

“OF COURSE!!! FELL, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ASSIST?”

“ **... Yeah, sure. It’s not like I have anything better to do.** ”

You were carried to your boxes by ‘Tale, and the two of you got to opening your boxes of stuff. The three of you chatted as you unpacked--Fell was rather unhelpful, claiming that he had to make sure you two didn’t get hurt and not partake in the activity--and by the time Orange called you up for dinner, most of your things were unpacked. Your laptop had claimed its home on the forefront of your desk, and your art supplies had claimed the drawers in it. Your posters and art (that you had hidden under the posters--you didn’t want to deal with any art requests today) that you wanted to hang up sat on your bed, so that you could put them up once everything else was unpacked. Your odds and ends went on top of the dresser, and your electronic alarm clock went on top of the bedside table. The only thing that remained unpacked was your clothes, and that was because you wanted to figure out which of the two doors was the closet and which was the bathroom.

“DID ORANGE FINISH MAKING MY SPAGHETTI?” Tale asked, confused. “I DIDN’T KNOW HE COULD COOK.”

“ **Neither did I… But I doubt he did.** ” Fell sighs, stretching and leaning against the doorframe. “ **He probably got something from Grillby’s. Or whatever the human equivalent of that is.** ”

“We won’t know until we go look.” You say, walking over to the door. “I can finish unpacking tonight; don’t worry about the stuff that’s left.”

“BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO FINISH HELPING YOU UNPACK?” Tale trailed after you, Fell leading the way towards the staircase.

“Most of it is small stuff; It’ll all be unpacked by bedtime, don’t you worry.” You gently boop the spot above Tale’s nose holes, smiling warmly at him. “Besides, I already know where I want to put it all. I’ll be fine.”

“ALRIGHT. I TRUST YOU, HUMAN.”

There wasn’t much conversation on the way to the kitchen. Orange stood behind the table, pizza boxes on the table next to four plates. The remnants of the spaghetti were nowhere to be seen.

“WHERE DID--”

“We’ve got some pizza to eat. Alphys ordered it for us, so we have plenty to share. I wasn’t sure what you all would want, but we have cheese and pepperoni.” Orange interrupts Tale, more than likely because the answer to the location of the uncooked spaghetti would be the trash.

“I’ll take some cheese slices.” You say, grabbing a plate and opening the top box. It wa the cheese--score!!!

“ **I’ll have some of the pepperoni.** ”

You end up serving the pizza, since Orange is too lazy. Tale and yourself both end up with cheese, whereas Orange and Fell both get pepperoni. Once all the food is served, you and the skeletons move out to the rather large living room to eat and relax.

“So… Do you guys want to watch a movie?” You ask, halfway through your first slice. Tale nods, since his mouth is full of cheesy goodness.

“Sounds good, but we don’t have any yet. Nor do we have… What was it called? Catchflix? Setflix?” Orange muses, returning from getting his third pepperoni slice from the box.

“Netflix.” You supply, frowning slightly.

“Yeah, we don’t have that.”

“ **Human, do you have any movies?** ” You do; you have the Deadpool movie and Mad Max, but neither of those are Tale-friendly…

“None that are kid-friendly.” Fell opens his mouth to speak, and you nod slightly towards Tale; the skeleton shuts his mouth, understanding what you’re getting at.

“... So, Wheatley… Tell us about yourself. Any weird human biology stuff that we need to look out for?” Orange asks, sitting down. “I’ll tell you right now that most of us go through a heat once a year.”

“Well… Nothing rings a bell for me. I don’t necessarily have the parts for anything you’d consider ‘weird,’ but I know that humans with vaginas go through a painful handful of days every month because they didn’t get pregnant. The organ that would hold the baby human sheds the lining it made, essentially trying to kill itself for a handful of days.” The look of disgust and shock on Fell’s face is absolutely worth the somewhat in-depth description.

“For me specifically, I’m not a morning person.” You continue, pretending to be oblivious about Fell’s expression. “If I snap at you and I haven’t had my coffee, don’t take it personally.”

“That makes two of us.” Orange says, looking at Fell in amusement. “ ‘Ey Fell, tell us about yourself.” That seems to shake the skeleton out of his stunned stupor, though he sighs heavily.

“ **In my universe, it’s quite literally kill or be killed. Don’t sneak up on me, it’ll end badly.** ” You nod, noticing that Fell’s face flickers with… some sort of suppressed emotion. Sadness, maybe? “ **My LV and XP are high enough for me to kill you with one or two attacks.** ”

“WELL, THERE’S NOT MUCH FOR ME TO SAY ABOUT MY UNIVERSE. OR MYSELF. I GUESS I CAN BE LOUD, LIKE FELL IS.” Tale nods to himself, as if that was his only flaw. You very much doubt it, but you also didn’t want to make him cry. “I ALSO MAKE THE BEST SPAGHETTI. I’LL MAKE SOME TOMORROW FOR DINNER, SINCE YOU DIDN’T GET TO EAT IT TONIGHT.”

“Sounds like a plan.” You smile warmly at him, silently congratulating yourself as his face lights up with happiness.

Orange yawns, setting his plate down and stretching.

“I’m not sure how long the others’ll want to talk to you, but I’m heading to bed. G’night, y’all.” With that, the hoodie-ified skeleton vanishes, confirming your suspicion of his teleporting abilities.

“ **His room is the first door on the left, and next to mine. All of our rooms are on the left-hand side on the second floor; there are empty rooms on the right, plus an extra and empty third floor.** ” You nod, letting out a soft sigh and climbing to your feet.

“I’m gonna put my dish in the sink and finish unpacking my stuff. Let me know if you two need me, alright?” The two skeletons nod, and you head off to do as you’d said. You don’t notice Fell’s eyes watching your every step.

* * *

You check the slidy door on the left first, the one closest to the entryway of your bedroom. It’s a rather small room, one with a rail on the inside for hanging things; clearly, this was the closet. You make sure to hang up all of your hoodies, an impressive collection of about __ that you went through during the season. Most were homestuck-related; you owned a black Eridan hoodie, Sollux hoodie, Nepeta hoodie, and Space aspect hoodie. You also owned a Time aspect hoodie which you were wearing, Breath aspect hoodie, Rage aspect hoodie, Mind aspect hoodie, and Void aspect hoodie. You also had a few Portal-themed hoodies--your favorite was the one with the “when life gives you lemons” Cave Johnson quote.

It was a massive understatement to say that you loved hoodies.

You hung them all up with care, along with the many sweatpants, pants, and other jackets that you owned. Your fancy tux went in the very back, along with your summer dresses. Your various shirts, t-shirts, and shorts went into your dresser; the top two split drawers became your socks and underwear drawers, respectively.

You move your posters from your bed to your desk, setting them on top of your laptop; after such a long day, you were beyond ready for sleep. You open the second door, revealing the bathroom.

Tale had put your bag of necessities on the sink’s countertop, but what took your breath away was the bathtub. The thing was massive and fancy, something you could sit in and soak in for hours without a care in the world. You took a picture and sent it to Alphys, telling her that she was “a fucking saint for gifting me this beautiful tub.” She was your favorite dinosaur ever. Of all time. Barney never gave you shit, he could go sit at second-best.

You bathe in your tub sent from heaven, just relaxing and letting the day’s stresses melt away. You’d left your apartment to become roommates with three skeletons, and none of them seemed too bad; besides, you’d get to put up your posters on your wall tomorrow, and you really looked forward to that.

As you’re pulling on your comfy t-shirt and pajama pants, your phone buzzes from an incoming text. You check it and find that it’s Alphys.

[ _Text from: Alphones_ ] yw!!!!

[ _Text from: Alphones_ ] Also, thinkin about havin a shoppin trip with the Sans human, you, and MTT. You game for whenever it is?

You mull over it, before sending your reply and curling up for sleep in your new room.

 

[ _Text to: Alphones_ ] Sure; just lemme know when it’s happenin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you've enjoyed the read!!!
> 
> I really appreciate feedback, because comments are amazing. 
> 
> Because of the House of Papyrus blog, I'm in need of an icon picture and a background photo. If there's a piece of art that you'd like to see me use, send me a message on the blog or submit the image. You can even tag me in it, if you have a tumblr!!!
> 
> You all are lovely, and I hope you have a lovely day :3


	3. Living The Skeleton Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!!
> 
> I'd like to remind you all that this blog has a tumblr that you all can send asks to; it is house-of-papyrus.tumbr.com  
> Feel free to ask me questions about updates and whatnot, since that's where you'll find more spoilers-y stuff.
> 
> Anyways--to the fic!!!

You wake to the sounds of screaming. Very loud, very frustrated screaming. Blearily, you glance at your alarm clock, blinking away some of the sleep in your eyes; 5. A. M. Five in the goddamn morning.

What the fuck.

You sit up in your bed, grumbling as you pull on warm socks and make your way to the hallway. The shouting seems to be coming from downstairs, but you aren’t awake enough to understand the words; it sounds like Tale and Fell.

Their shouting is so loud that it muffles your footfalls and creaks the floor makes as you put your weight on it, making your way downstairs to settle the kerfuffle.

“ **The human said not to wake them up before nine in the morning--** ”

“BUT BREAKFAST IN BED IS OKAY SO LONG AS I BRING THEM COFFEE!!!” … They were making you breakfast in bed? That’s… Unexpected. Still, it’s five in the fucking morning, and you’d be damned if you weren’t going to go back to bed once you got them to shut up.

Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, you see the skeletons in their bedtime attire. Tale had… A pair of squiddles boxers on his head, like a hat; he wore a tank top and a pair of comfy sweatpants that exposed his hipbones. Fell wore a similar attire, minus the boxer hat; his sweatpants had little skulls printed on them, and the tank top had “Bad Bitch” printed to it. If you were more awake and if they weren’t having a screaming match, you’d have thought it adorable.

“You know, some of us are _trying_ to sleep.” Both skeletons fall silent, turning to face you.

“ **Did we wake you up?** ” Fell asks, speaking surprisingly quiet for such a loud skeleton.

“No, the magical fairies who wake everyone up forced me to hear your shouting from planet fuckin’ Mars.” You reply, sarcasm dripping from your words like venom. “ _Yes_ , you two woke me up.”

“... I’M SORRY…” Tale mumbled, shoulders drooping. “WE DIDN’T MEAN TO WAKE YOU UP.” His bottom jaw trembles a bit, and his eyes well up with tears; you feel your sins crawling up your back.

“ ‘s okay, Tale.” You place your hand on one of his gloved ones, smiling up at him in an attempt to banish his tears before they fall. “You were trying to do something nice. Just… try it later on, when it’s not five in the morning.”

“ **Told you so.** ” Fell muttered, looking at Tale with irritation. “ **Human, go back to bed. We’ll get you breakfast at a more reasonable hour.** ”

“You two don’t have to make me breakfast in bed, you know.” You mumble, stifling a yawn.

“I KNOW. BUT I WANTED TO, AND FELL SAID HE WOULD HELP.” Tale was smiling again, though traces of sadness still remain. “BESIDES, ITS SOMETHING NICE FOR A NEW FRIEND!!!”

“ **He woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.** ” Tale shoots Fell a dirty look; the skeleton doesn’t seem to notice, or didn’t care. “ **All Papyruses are what you would call ‘morning people,’ aside from Orange. That, and we all have problems sleeping.** ”

You simply raise an eyebrow, looking between the two skeletons. Tale starts fidgeting under your sleep-deprived glare, whereas Fell seems unable to meet your eyes.

“... Did you two even go to sleep at all?” You cross your arms, giving the two the best stern look you could manage. Headshakes and a small chorus of “no” had you shaking your head and sighing.

“It’s five in the morning and you two haven’t gotten a single ounce of sleep… Turn off whatever ovens and toasters and whatnot that are on, you two are going to bed.”

“BUT I WON’T BE ABLE TO SLEEP…” Tale whines, pout on his face. “I DIDN’T GET MY BEDTIME STORY, AND MY SANS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO DOES IT RIGHT.”

“Laying down and letting yourself relax is still going to help.” Both skeletons look at you as if you had spontaneously grown three heads and had told them that you were secretly an octopus.

“ **... That’s never worked for me.** ” Tale nods in agreement with Fell’s statement, still looking entirely befuddled.

“Well… Just don’t be so loud, I guess. I’m goin’ back to bed, g’night you two.” With that, you turn and head back upstairs to your warm haven. You hear the clack of bare bones on the hardwood floor behind you, but you pay it no attention; you slip into your room, shut the door, and curl up under your blankets for some precious sleep.

The next time you wake up, it’s to someone gently nudging your shoulder. You hold still, hoping whomever it is will leave you alone.

“HUMAN.” Tale whispers as softly as he can, gently shaking your shoulder. “HUMAN, WE HAVE YOUR BREAKFAST.” …. He isn't going to leave you alone, is he?

You open your eyes, blearily checking the clock -- nine a.m. exactly -- before turning your attention to the smell of delicious foods.

Fell stands behind Tale, neither skeletons in their pajamas. They both were in their body armor, though both were in sweatpants. Today was a Saturday (you thought), and was apparently the lazy day.

“Thanks, you two.” You smile warmly, albeit sleepily; Fell’s cheekbones seem to tinge a slight red. You can’t tell, and quite frankly you want to eat whatever meal has been prepared for you. Plus, you smell the best thing. The life-saving and life-giving elixir. The thing you always splurge on because of its godlike prowess. Coffee.

“WELL, FELL COOKED IT. HE’S REALLY GOOD AT IT, BUT THINGS LIKE WAFFLES AND BACON STILL AREN’T AS GOOD AS MY SPAGHETTI!!!” Tale strikes a silly pose, a giggle escaping your lips. Fell’s face is definitely red by this point; poor skeleton seems incredibly flustered for some reason.

“I’m sure it is. Can I have the food? I’m starving.” You sit up in your bed, scooting back so that the back of your head rests against the glass window over your bed. Tale sidesteps, revealing the breakfast feast heaped on a tray.

They’d prepared some bacon, three chocolate chip waffles, a bowl of strawberries and blueberries, a glass of orange juice, and a mug of coffee. Which was way more than you usually ate at breakfast, but you’d be damned if you wouldn’t eat it all.

“ **I hope you like it…** ” Fell mumbles, setting the tray on your lap.

“DON’T BE SILLY, OF COURSE THEY’LL LIKE IT.” You take a bite of your waffle. And proceed to scarf down the rest of the meal like you hadn’t eaten in a year. Coffee was chugged, waffles and bacon were wolfed down as quickly as you could eat it, and the berries were eaten just as quickly. Fell could, apparently, cook really well.

“That’s… One of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had.” You state, polishing off the last of the orange juice. “10 out of 10 would eat again, no lie.” You beam up at Fell, Tale, smiling happily at you. Fell’s face seemed unable to get any redder than it was; if you had your phone, you’d have taken a picture.

“What’s the plan for today? Anything you guys want to do?” Fell seems to sigh in relief, most likely glad to have the attention off of him.

“WELL, WE NEED TO GO BUY FOOD… HUMAN, WHY DON’T YOU AND FELL GO, MAYBE TAKE ORANGE WITH YOU? I HAVE TRAINING WITH UNDYNE AND CAN’T GO MYSELF…”

“Sure. Let me get dressed, I’ll grab the list and go.” To your surprise, Tale practically drags Fell out of the room, granting you the privacy to get dressed. You hear hushed whispers outside your door, definitely Fell arguing with Tale, but you aren’t going to question it.

You pull on your Nepeta hoodie and a comfortable pair of jeans, tossing your pajamas onto your pillow. You’d make your bed later, when it was something that actually mattered. You check your phone next, a text from Alphys on it.

[ _Text from: Alphones_ ] Hey, you’re gonna get some new Papyruses in about a week. I’ll email you the stuff about them

 

You read and re-read the text, letting out a soft sigh. Your home was about to get a lot bigger…

[Text to: Alphones] Thanks!!!

[Text to: Alphones] Also the skeles made me breakfast in bed. I think Fell planned it.

With that, you stuff your phone into your pocket and leave your room. The frenzied whisper argument stops the moment your door opened, Orange standing nearby and looking mildly annoyed while the other two look sheepish.

“Good morning, Orange. Sleep well?” You ask, pretending like you didn’t know there had been an argument.

“Yes. You?”

“Pretty good. These two had a kerfuffle at five in the morning, but other than that it was good.” The skeletons give you a confused look; what, did you have something on your face?

“...We’re going shopping, yeah?” Orange asks, breaking the silence.

“Yep. We’ll have to take the bus, so that gives you time to eat something before we get to the stop.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Let’s just go.”

\--------------

The trip to the store had been surprisingly calm. Because it was a Saturday, the bus was less crowded than it usually was. You got the bus schedule and headed off with the two skeletons to the store, getting plenty of food and spaghetti noodles for home. You even grabbed Papyrus some edible glitter so that you wouldn’t damage your intestines with it.

Orange had made himself scarce once the three of you had entered the store, leaving you and Fell to gather the foods. You had had Fell push the cart and grab the things that were up high, since you could get almost everything without having to parkour up the sides of the shelving. Still, it took the two of you until noon to gather all of your foodstuffs, although Orange levitated most of the many grocery bags on the way back to the bus stop.

“--But if you could only fly north, it’d be a really useless power.” Orange says, as if it were fact. “Much more useless than teleporting only a foot in a random direction.”

“ **Not if the teleport direction was uncontrolled.** ” Fell replies, juggling his bags of frozen goods and spaghetti noodles. “Besides, both are more useless than only being able to see through people’s clothing.”

Before you can reply with why your useless power is the most useless, you hear the sound of shouting. It’s noon, so it isn’t something you ought to be hearing. Rather than press your point, you go to find the source of the shouting--followed by a surprised Orange and Fell.

“--Kill the filthy animal!!!” An enraged voice snarls, echoing from the mouth of an alleyway. “Kill all’a the filthy animals!!!”

You can see three men glaring down at something, one of whom has a hand clapped over his eye. The aforementioned man kicks something… small, and it thuds against the brick wall with a tiny shriek of pain.

You drop your groceries, food long forgotten in favor of saving this poor creature from these people. You’re in a haze, vision tunneling in on the man who had harmed the small creature; Fell and Orange are trying to tell you something, but it sounds fuzzy and distorted.

You approach the men, glare plastered on your face. Your mother had told you once that when you got angry you became a tiny terror, a force not to be reckoned with. You’re more than willing to have these men face the storm.

“Leave the creature alone.” You say, voice an icy cool that dripped venom like sickly-sweet nectar. Your hands are balled into fists, anger radiating from your being. The men jump, surprised; they just sneered upon seeing you.

“Or what? Why should I listen to a little bitch like yo--” You don’t give the man a chance to finish, choosing to give him an incredibly powerful blow to the jaw. He goes down in one hit, leaving the others looking shocked.

“Leave. The. Creature. Alone.” Your stare dead into the eyes of the two much taller men, knowing you were scaring them beyond belief. Their gazes shift from you to beyond you, terror becoming much more imminent. “Leave.” You jerk your thumb behind you, taking a step to the side to allow the men to pass.

You glance backwards, jaw nearly dropping with surprise. Fell’s right eye socket glows red, a hoard of bones summoned and poised to impale the men. Orange, in contrast, is using his magic to levitate pieces of sharp trash to launch at the men. His right eye glows a bright orange, lining the walls and ground near him the same color.

Hesitantly, the men pick up their unconscious comrade, carefully making their way towards the furious skeletons. Both shift their attacks, making a narrow tunnel for the men to escape; they scoot through as quickly as they can, making a run for some semblance of safety.

Your attention shifts from the men to the small creature as soon as it makes a small, pained whimper; you dash over to it, feet halting upon seeing what it looks like.

It was small, small enough that you could hold it with one hand. It stands at about three to four inches tall, and seems to be made entirely out of a watery substance with a thin film covering it. Its clothes are dull browns, in complete contrast to its baby blue color. Its hand is clutched at its shoulder and some sort of golden liquid is oozing out of a bad scratch on its head. The men were lucky to have left when they did; you’d have given them a really bad time if they had still been here.

“Hey there… You murmur softly, crouching down to be closer to it’s eye level. “I’d like to try to help you. May I pick you up?” The tiny blue creature looks up at you for a moment, as if thinking it over, before giving you a curt nod. You lower your hand, placing it flat on the ground and allowing the small thing to climb onto it.

“What are you?”

“I… I’m a Bitty. A Curly Bitty. Do… Do you know where my momma is?” The poor thing’s voice is scratchy and dry, as if it had been left here for several days without water.

“‘Fraid not. Did your momma… Did your momma own any other bitties?” The small creature nods, and your throat tightens. It desperately needs food and water…

“Are they in this alleyway?” Another nod, and you sigh in relief.

“Okay. Can you point them out to me?” It points towards a seemingly innocent pile of bricks. You raise an eyebrow, but pick your way over to the aforementioned brick pile.

“ **... This is just a bunch of bricks.** ” You shake your head, free hand going to calm the startled bitty. Curly didn’t realized you had some friends with you, or that they’d be as intimidating as Fell was.

“No… Maybe there’s a box hidden under it?” You give Orange a pleading look--he’d saved your grocery bag, you note--before turning and moving the bricks yourself. Orange floats most away, leaving two--one on top of each box.

“Orange, why did you--”

“There’s some scared critters in there. You’d best be careful when you open the boxes.” Orange answers your question before it comes out of your mouth. He has a point, but Curley is gently tugging at your finger and pointing at both the boxes.

“Alright, calm down.” You pick a box, gently tapping on the lid. A startled squeak answers your tap, but it gets hushed incredibly quickly.

“Hey, don’t worry. I’m gonna get you out, take you home and get you cleaned up… You’ll be alright. I’m gonna open the lid now--please don’t attack me, I’m only trying to help.” With that, you gently ease the lid off of the shoebox.

Inside the box are two small Papyrus-esque skeletons, both bigger than Curley. One is trembling like a leaf, hiding behind the other; the other skeleton is wearing some slightly brighter colors, but they had since faded.

“Th’ hiding bitty is Teacup, a-and the other is a Poppy. Momma calls him Violet.” Curly supplies, voice a soft whisper to not strain his vocal chords.

“H-have you seen our momma?” The other asks, gently placing a hand on the trembling one’s skull to try and calm it.

“Can’t say that I have… Did she leave you here?” Nods from all three bittys turn your heart to ice; when you found this woman, you were gonna--

“Sh-she buried Al a-and you two under a p-pile of bricks.” Curly croaked, wincing at evident soreness in his throat. “Sh-she w-wasn’t gonna c-come b-b-back…” The bitty clutches at your thumb, sitting down on your palm and trembling.

“B-but she said she w-would--” The other trembling bitty wailes, clinging to its partner as if it were a buoyant piece of driftwood in a stormy sea.

“ **I’m sure she’ll come back. We’ll leave a note so that she can find you all, but for now we need to take you home.** ” Fell’s words startle you; you hadn’t heard him walk up behind you. You turn to look, and nearly collide with his skull; he was crouching so that he was at eye level with Curly. “ **Bitties need food and water at least once every week, or they’ll dust. Less than that, if they’ve already gone hungry for a while.** ” You give him a questioning glance, confused as to how he had gotten that information. He didn’t strike you as the type to want to take care of a small creature like a bitty. Then again, you didn’t know what a bitty was; you had been out of the loop for popular things and new animals for a long time.

“Fell, can I borrow your scarf?” You murmur softly, free hand making grabby motions for it. “It’s cold, and these bitties seem chilled to the bone.”

You hadn’t realized you’d made a pun until Fell groaned, facepalming dramatically and dragging his gloved hand down his face.

“ **Was that necessary?** ” He grumbles, gently unwinding his scarf and setting it in your hand. “ **You could have left it at ‘they’re cold.’** ”

“ _Tibea_ honest, I hadn’t realized I’d made the pun.” You reply with a smirk, gently wrapping Curly in a small section of scarf. Hand free again, you set it in the box for the two skeleton bitties to climb into. “I have a ton I can use, though. A _skele_ -ton.”

The trembles in the previously terrified skeleton bitty had changed to trembles of laughter, though it still hid behind the other one. Both were smiling, and the giggling one makes small squeaks when it can’t keep it’s laughter internal. Curly smilies, snuggling into the warmth of the scarf and looking incredibly adorable. Fell just sighs, pulling out his phone and taking a picture of the bitties still in the box.

“ **It’s so that we can press charges against whomever trapped them.** ” He explains, noticing your questioning glance. “ **If the bitties will allow us, once we get them home.** ”

“Momma will come get us.” The calmer skeleton bitty murmurs, sounding uncertain. It scoops up its fellow bitty and settles on your palm, allowing you to pick them up and gently deposit them in the scarf. The two got comfortable, while you and Fell stared down the last box.

“Al is in that one.” Curly said. “He’s real protective of us all, but since you’re trying to help he won’t hurt you. We only got put here ‘cause he bit momma...” He smiles warmly, hugging your thumb through the fabric of the scarf. “He’s real nice, I promise. Just don’t hurt any of us, ‘cause he won’t like that.”

You nod, staring down the box. You knew you ought to open it, since the bitty inside had most likely been listening while you freed the other bitties. Curly gave your thumb a gentle squeeze, and you let out the softest of sighs.

You tap the top of the box, telling the creature inside that you were going to open the lid.

You remove the brick from the top of the box, hand poised to flip the lid off.

You remove the lid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bitty AU is created by bittybones-au.tumblr.com, and all of the currently mentioned bitties belong to them.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading!!!


	4. Author's Note #1

Hello!!!

 

I know you all were looking forward to a chapter, and I was going to put it up today; however, I had a minor set back. It's called "I graduated high school today and proceeded to have no free time all day."

I'm super tired right now, since I just finished the next chapter. It's a bit short, but once my beta reader reviews and fixes things today/tomorrow I'll put it up!!! It should be up tomorrow at some point before 8pm EST, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

Thank you for your patience!!!


	5. Humans Aren't Built For This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!!!
> 
> Sorry for the delay with this chapter! My beta reader had a busy day yesterday, so he didn't get to look at this until today. And then he proceeded to tear it to shreds, lmao.
> 
> Anyways, the next chapter might take a bit of time to get to; I have a trip to pack for, and I might leave before I finish writing it. Don't worry, it'll definitely be up before August, since I get home long before then.
> 
> Anyways, the newest bitty is from nsfwalphatalelioness.tumblr.com; I take no credit for this bitty, but thank you to the creator for allowing me to use the bitty :3

You inhale sharply, staring down in absolute shock and horror at the limp body in the box.

The bitty is covered in bruises, blemishes, cuts, and scrapes. There are several broken bones with shards scattered every which way within its container, and the bitty’s whip-like tail is broken in three different places. It’s soaked in blood and dust, and at least three of its ribs are broken; you can see them through the torn fabric of the creature’s shirt. You suspect more damage is hidden under its clothes, and your heart wrenches at the thought of the poor thing never being able to walk again. It’s tail is barely attached, clinging to the bitty’s body by a single thread of magical flesh; reddish blood leaks from the wound, even after uncountable minutes, hours, days of what must have been sheer agony.

This is all the damage you could see with the creature’s clothes on. You’re fairly certain--no, you’re one hundred percent positive--that there’s more damage hidden beneath the blood-stained cloth that remained of its clothes.

Its chest rises and falls, struggling to breathe; had it been a cat, you would have thought one of its lungs had been punctured by a shard of bone. Each breath rattled and shook, as if each gasp for air kept it in the balance of life and death. Each exhale caused the creature to make a soft, almost unhearable whimper of pain.

It cracks its eyes open, blue pinpricks glazed over with endless pain and suffering. It scans your face, tensing up once it could focus on your facial features; its eyes jump from you to the bitties in your hands, then back up at you. “Don’t hurt them” they seem to say. “Keep them safe and happy for me.” It’s eyes slide back shut, seeming to accept its fate to lie there until it died.

You aren’t going to allow that to happen.

 

…

 

..

 

.

 

You hope you aren’t too late.

 

“Fell…” You croak, voice trembling with concern and worry. You hold the other bitties close to your chest, preventing them from seeing the extent of the damage. “Please tell me you know some healing magic, o-or something--”

“ **My knowledge in the area is… Very limited.** ” Fell remains calm, a shocking feat unto itself. He takes several pictures of the boxed bitty, doing his best to keep his hands steady for clear photos. “ **I’ll do what I can, but I believe Tale’s Undyne and Alphys know a great deal more than I.** ”

“Orange--”

“On it.” You would have looked to see where Orange was, but your eyes are glued to the bloody bitty in its box. Carefully, you wrap the three mostly undamaged bitties in the remainder of Fell’s scarf; you free a hand, able to carefully pick up the shoe-boxed bitty.

“Orange… How easy would it be to teleport us to Undyne’s house?” Your voice sounds small, even to yourself; Fell raises a quizzical, nonexistent eyebrow at the question.

“Without the groceries? Pretty easy. With the groceries… Well, it’d be easier to make two trips.” You nod, turning your attention back to the pained bitty as a small whimper rises from the box.

“Hey there…” You murmur softly, doing your absolute best to stay calm; you tune out Orange, knowing that the skeleton would get these small bitties the help they needed. “My friends and I, we’re going to get you all patched up.” Fell holds his hands out for his scarf; you place it and the smaller bitties into his hands, granting you both hands to hold the box. “We’ll get you stuff to eat, and some water to drink, and you’ll be warm and safe. Does that sound good to you?”

The tall bitty opens an eye, just enough so that a small sliver of blue was visible. You smile warmly at it, careful to keep Fell and the scarf-covered bitty pack in its sights.

“Here--blink once for yes, twice for no. Since I don’t know if your throat works well enough to speak right now. I don’t have any water right now, but when we get to Undyne’s would you like some?”

Blink.

“Alright. I’m not sure if she’ll let you move your arms while she heals you, so I might have to give you the water from a pipette. One of those really long dropper things that scientists use. Is that okay?”

Blink.

“I’m not sure that Undyne will want you to leave her home while you’re recovering… Is it okay if I keep your bitty pack at my house?”

Blink blink.

“You want them to be with you?”

Blink.

“Okay; I’ll try and see if Undyne will let you stay at my place. I live with Fell--he’s the one holding your packmates right now-- and Orange, and another skeleton that we call Tale. They’re all sweethearts, you’ll like them.”

Blink.

You open your mouth to ask more questions, but a skeletal hand is placed on your left shoulder; you glance over your shoulder to see Orange, eye glowing a gentle orange. His free hand is placed on Fell’s right shoulder.

“I’ll teleport back and put the groceries away, the rejoin you two at Undyne’s.” He murmurs softly, grocery bags floating to a safe perch in the alleyway. “You two ready for the trip?”

“Yes.” You look down at the bitty--it’s eyes are closed, clamped shut as if preparing for a flight. Its breathing had sped up a little, seeming to be scared; you hope it knew that it was safe now. You won’t let the poor bitty get hurt again.

“ **I’m ready.** ” Fell states, carefully cradling his precious cargo in his hands. You can see Curly’s little head poking out of the scarf, trying to get a peek at the bitty in the box. You aren’t sure it was Al, but you sincerely hoped it was. For the bitty’s sake.

“Shut your eyes.” is your only warning; against your better judgement, your eyes clamp themselves shut. Before you leave, though, you peek one eye open the tiniest bit.

* * *

You feel as if you were being pulled every which way, body helpless to the waves of forces dragging you in every direction. It feels like the loudest sound and the softest silence, the hardest hit and the softest kiss. It feels like a myriad of things, both exactly what you expected and nothing like you anticipated.

Code flashes across your vision, snippets of conversations in passing dripping into your ears all perfectly clear yet muffled and distorted at the same time. Images assault your mind, views of the tall bitty you had saved being kicked and beaten seven ways to Sunday whilst a faceless demon holds Curly captive. You see a small child navigating their way through countless versions of what you assume is the Underground, watch them die and revive and try again in every path imaginable. You see your own childhood, from birth to kindergarten to now.

You also see into the nothing, the blank space. You see the vast expanse of the void, see its empty features and static coalition with the now.

You see a face, a figure.

* * *

It’s over as soon as it begins. Loud noises of pots and pans bashing together do little to calm your rolling stomach. You snap your eyes shut, doing your best to control your breathing; you aren’t sure if you’re on solid ground or still soaring through an endless void, but you’ll be damned if you’ll puke on the bitty in the box. Voices echo in the background, yet your eyes stay clamped shut. Someone gently peels the box from your hands, bony hands replacing the box.

“... had their eyes open when I teleported…” Something echoes through the waves of sound and shock; it sounds… familiar. “... need rest… groceries… be back soon…”

And then you don’t hear anything at all.

* * *

You’re back in the void. Just the void this time; no snippets of code or visions from the past to assault your senses. You’re surrounded by everything and nothing, by a vast space filled to the brim with nothing. You look down, finding yourself standing on nothing and everything all at once.

For some reason, this isn’t strange to you.

You think that perhaps this is a dream, but it feels too real.

You look up, taking a step forward. Your footfall makes no sound, yet the blackness ripples as though it did. You take another step, then another, and soon you’re running. You see ripples ahead of you, behind you, surrounding you.

You will find the man who speaks in hands.

One sliver of darkness does not ripple like the rest of the void, and it is there you run towards. You know it to be him, you’re positive. You just have to get there.

“... up…”

You close the distance between you and him as quickly as you can, footsteps sending ripples towards the black shape.

“... wake… up…”

You reach out to touch the mass.

“Wake up…”

The mass turns, cracked white face and multitudes of hands hovering in shock and surprise. Something in your mind whispers a warning.

“Wake up!!!”

 

“ _Beware the man who speaks in hands._ ”

* * *

You crack an eye open and clamp it shut again due to the too-bright light in the room, letting out a soft groan. Your head feels as though someone were cracking it open with an icepick, throbbing pain sending white shocks to your closed eyes and creating patterns and mirages. Your chest feels as though someone placed a weight on it, and your limbs feel laced with lead. Whatever your head is on feels bony and uncomfortable, yet the rest of your body seems to be laying on something soft.

“ **Undyne, Alphys, they’re awake!!!** ” Fell calls out, loudness making you wince as the pain of your headache increases tenfold. “ **Sorry…** ” He mumbles, softer this time.

“... Will they be okay?” A tiny voice asks, timid and worried. The weight on your chest shifts, climbs up to rest on your shoulder; something wet touches your cheek.

“ **They’ll be okay. Orange said so.** ” Fell replies, bony phalanges placing themselves to your temples. The coolness radiating from the bone eases the pain, helps it fade; you try your best to thank him, but all that comes out is a soft croak.

Footsteps pitter patter over to you, and a glass of… something is pressed to your lips.

“H-here, d-d-drink this. I-it’ll help you feel b-better in a few moments.” Alphys… lived with Undyne? You couldn’t fathom how an anime weeb like Alphys could fall for an exercise nut like Undyne; then again, your love life is practically nonexistent, so who are you to judge?

You take a sip of the drink, face turning sour. It tastes the way mown lawns smell, mixed with the unholy lovechild of dog shit and roadkill. You force yourself to drink it; true to her word, the beverage eases your headache to a much more manageable dull throbbing.

“That tasted like shit.” You mutter, easing your eyes open and blinking the bright light to a dimmer setting. “Worse than shit, actually.”

Alphys’s face appears in your vision as a fuzzy yellow blob, floating atop a sea of white. The walls of the room were a rather light pink color, one that barely made Fell’s head viewable; his armor would have made it obvious, anyways.

“W-well, I would have a-added honey, b-b-but that would have defeated the purpose of the drink.” Your vision slowly starts to clear, features becoming more visible. You hold your head still; much as you want to see the weight on your chest, you don’t want to cause your migraine to spike.

“Makes sense… Where’s Curly and the other bitties? How’s Al?” Your voice is scratchy and hoarse; at least you _can_ speak now, instead of croaking noises and groans.

“ **Curly, Violet, and Teacup are on your chest. Al is… being patched up by Undyne. Tale is in there with her; he apparently has more skill in the area than she does.** ” As Fell speaks, the wet spot on your cheek removes itself, only to gently pat your cheek instead. “ **Looks like they’re both healing a different part of him; Tale has his tail, and Undyne’s working on his ribs.** ”

You focus your vision on Fell. He hasn’t reclaimed his scarf, leaving his neck uncomfortably bare. You’re used to seeing him with the torn-up scarf on; it seems strange to see him without it. His battle body shines slightly in the room’s harsh lighting, sending what little light that bounces off of it to the walls to make tiny rainbows. He’s looking down at you, eye lights mitigated to tiny pinpricks with what you believe to be concern. You smile slightly at him, moving one of your leadened arms so that your hand can catch one of his and gently squeeze it.

“I’ll be fine. Just got a bit of a headache is all.” Understatement of the year; still, it seems to calm your edgy skeleton down. You… pretend not to notice Alphys taking a picture of you and Fell with her phone.

“U-um… I-is Al gonna be okay?” A tiny voice asks from your chest; you shift your head just a bit to look down at the bitties that’re gathered there.

They had all been cleaned up, spare doll clothes given to them so that they wouldn’t have to be naked. Curly was in a set of small overalls, and had found what seemed to be a pair of Harry Potter glasses that were perched where his eyes would be. One that you were fairly certain was Teacup had a set of magical ears and a tail, like a cat; the bitty had found some bright-colored orange cloth and was wearing it like a toga over a hawaiian-print shirt and khakis. You didn’t question why the ears and tail had been absent when you had found them, since conserving magic would have been the smartest thing to do in their situation. The one who had spoken up seemed to be the one on the purple shirt, who was sitting criss-cross on your chest. Violet, you remembered.

“I’m not sure.” You answer honestly, free hand  draping across your stomach and giving the bitty something to lean backwards on. “But he’ll certainly be better than how he’d be if I hadn’t found you all.” Curly nods, padding over to your available hand and curling up in it; the other two bitties make themselves comfortable leaning on your arm.

“W-well, Undyne and Pa- I-I-I mean, Tale, should b-be done soon. They said so when I c-came in here.” You smile warmly at that, letting out a relieved sigh.

“Well that’s good. What time is it, by the way? I should probably make dinner…”

“ **It’s 5.** ” Your train of thought goes flying off the rails..

“... I was out cold for four hours?”

“ **More like three and a half.** ” Well, shit. “ **Orange came back and had your feet on his lap, but he left a few minutes before you woke up to get food. I got you regular spaghetti from the italian place he was going to, since there isn’t much a human could do to screw that up.** ”

“True… How long until Orange gets back?” You have many questions--who was the man who speaks in hands, why should you be wary of them, who was the goopster, why did you not feel afraid of something like it-- but…

“ **He should be back in a few minutes. Why?** ”

You have the feeling that only a skeleton like Orange could answer your questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty sure that only one person guessed the Bitty correctly, and it was user CatInTheBox. Congratulations, Al is in fact an AlphaDaddy from nsfwalphatalelioness.tumblr.com


	6. Spaghetti Makes The World Go 'Round

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!!!
> 
> So sorry for the delay; I've been doing vacation things, like writing over 2k words in one day because it was raining. BUT now this is posted, Moontamble (the author of House of Sans, for those who don't know) and I can start co-writing a chapter!!! I'm not going to say if the Papyruses will meet the Sanses, but...  
> We'll just have to see, won't we? >:3c
> 
> I'm not sure how long it'll take to write the next chapter, so don't worry if it takes awhile to get that out to you all.

You open your mouth to reply to Fell’s question--you aren’t sure how to answer, and you don’t want to lie to him--but a gentle tug on your sleeve saves you from having to reply.

You look down to see Teacup gently tugging at your hoodie sleeve, apparently trying to gather more soft fluffy material around himself. He already had the scarf, and seemed to be attempting to make the Most Comfortable Thing Possible. Honestly, it was incredibly adorable.

“Teacup, sweetie, that happens to be a part of my clothing. I know that it’s a fantastic hoodie, but I’d rather like to keep it on.” Your voice is light and gentle, and it takes sheer willpower not to giggle at the bitty’s small blush.

“Well-- Well, Violet is tired, and we don’t have a proper bed!” Teacup huffs, crossing his arms. “Bitties like us needs our sleep. ‘Specially Curly, but he’ll nap wherever. Almost like a Soft Bones, except less hide-y.”

“Am not!!!” Curly insists, hiding a yawn behind your thumb. “I just get my full 8 hours of sleep every night, unlike you.”

“Guys, calm down. You’re tired and haven’t eaten yet, and because of that y’all are cranky. ‘Sides, Al wouldn’t be happy with us if we fought while he was getting healed.” Violet murmurs softly, causing the other two bitties to fall into thoughtful silence. Curly snuggles into your hand to get more comfortable, and for the first time you notice a soft heat coming from him. It isn’t a burning heat, more the warmth felt from picking up a rock that has been left in the sun all day on a gentle spring evening.

“W-well, I’m going to head back and see if Tale a-and Undyne need anything.” Alphys mumbles, smiling warmly at you and the bitties before ducking into the kitchen.

You take that moment of calm to analyze the room you, your bitties, and Fell were in. You’re on a rather comfortable couch--that much is obvious-- and there’s a lamp located behind Fell. You guess it was on an end table of some sort, since you couldn’t see around your skeletal pillow. On the side of the room opposing you and the couch is a rather large television sitting atop a white television stand, complete with drawers and storage space.

The room itself is painted in a soft cream color, one that reflects light a bit too well for your liking. Above you, along the back of the couch, is a set of windows; the curtains drawn, most likely to keep prying eyes off of Fell and yourself. There’s a wall opening that acts as a doorway between the room you’re in and what seems to be a hallway slash entryway. You can’t quite tell from where you are.

However, from your seat you can see a small section of what appears to be a very tiny kitchen. A pillar that most likely contains a structural support beam stands in the center of the space, and a table is pressed against it. You can see a chair that had been shoved away, and the back of some sort of greenish-blue fish person that Alphys is whispering to; you guess the fish person is Undyne. You can’t see how Al is doing, since Undyne was blocking the view. A soft green light remanats from where their hands are, for some reason filling you with a calm sense of warmth and safety.

A gentle tug on your sleeve draws your attention back to the bitties on your chest. It’s Teacup again, though this time he’s just trying to get your attention.

“Can you see him?” He asks quietly, looking up at you with what can only be described as doe eyes. “I-Is he okay?”

“Looks like Undyne and Papyrus are still working hard; I’m sure they’ll heal him until they run out of healing magic or until he’s all better, whichever comes first.” You gently reassure him, hand releasing Fell’s bony phalanges to gently rub the top of Teacup’s skull. “And if they run out of magic before they finish, they’ll just eat and keep healing once they’re done.”

“But what if he can’t be fixed?” Violet asked softly, pressing his back into your arm--the other’s conversation had gotten him thinking. “What if he can’t get better and has to stay hurt--”

“ **Injuries like that are very rare in monsters, especially in skeletons like him and myself. From what I saw, he didn’t have that kind or level of damage** .” Fell interjects, stating the knowledge in a matter-of-fact tone. “ **He could probably heal it all himself as well; Tale and Undyne are just making it easier for him to recover.** ”

“But--”

“He’ll be fine. If he has any lasting physical damage, I’ll see to it personally that the house accommodates his needs.” Orange pipes up, startling everyone in the room--you’d question his sudden appearance, but you’re sure it was his bullshit teleportation. Just thinking about it gives you a slight headache.

A plastic bag full of take-out containers in one skeletal hand and a bag full of items you couldn’t identify in the other makes him seem like an absolute god of divine deliverance. The smell of delicious,  _ delicious  _ Italian food wafts throughout the house in a matter of seconds. Your stomach growls loudly, making Teacup giggle. You hadn’t realized just how hungry you are, but you’ll be damned if the stereotypical wussy garlic bread that all sub-par Italian restaurants served would stop you from eating a spaghetti portion made for two people your size.

“H-hey, Undyne and Tale say that they’re done n-now. They put Al i-in a new box w-w-with soft stuff in it, s-o he could rest.” Alphys mumble, nose twitching in what was possibly the most adorable thing you’d seen all day, clearly seeking the source of heavenly foodstuffs. “O-oh, hello Orange. Bring the food into the kitchen, please.”

Orange, of course, teleports the foodstuffs to the kitchen table, much to the delight of Tale if the overjoyed “Nyeh-heh-heh!!!” that follows its arrival has anything to say about it.

“How you holdin’ up?” He asks, looking at you with something that looked rather similar to concern. Well, that or indigestion; you assume the former. He was hard to read, much harder than Tale or Fell.

“Pretty good, all things considered. I’ve got a headache still, even with the nasty-ass drink Alphys gave me to lower the damn thing.” Fell stiffens up; you aren’t sure what he’s thinking, but he probably thinks the gross beverage hasn’t helped at all. “Plus, my limbs feel laced with lead; pretty sure that some food and some rest can clear it all up, though.” You reply honestly, letting out a soft sigh. “I’ve got some questions for you, but there are a lot. So I’ll ask you after dinner, ‘cause I’m starving.”

“Well, I’ll answer your questions as best I can. When you ask them, of course.” Orange smiles, though it seemed to be forced. You wonder why, since he doesn’t seem like the kind of person with things to hide.

Then again, you aren’t about to judge. You have your own secrets, like your Uncle and your medication.

“Alright punks!!! Food’s on the table, so get up!!!” Undyne shouts into the room, full of peppy energy; the shouting merely worsens your headache, but you keep quiet. “So, human… Can you stand?”

“Not sure… Here, Fell, hold the bitties--” And suddenly you’re in the air, bitties clutching your clothes and hands so that they don’t slip and fall. You float about an inch into the air, then off the couch at a leisurely pace towards the kitchen. Soft orange surrounds you; a glance at the skeleton in question confirms his magic.

Fell jumps up after you have been graciously lifted from the couch, darting into the kitchen and grabbing a chair for you. Orange floats a couch pillow out with you, clearly for you to sit on. Tale helps by setting the pillow on the chair seat just so, so that it’ll be comfortable without the risk of the pillow slipping out from under you.

* * *

Fell shot Orange a glare from outside your field of vision, yet said nothing. He wanted you to like him, for you to think he was kind and special; he couldn’t very well do that if Orange and Tale were constantly trying to one-up him. He needed… Well, he needed you to trust him. Like friends do.

He knew what was coming, possibly more than anyone else in the room; he needed yours and everyone else’s trust to do what needed to be done. He’d seen the horrors of his universe, his hell-saken dimension. At least then he’d had Sans.

He knew what would happen once Alphys eventually placed someone from Horrortale in his household. A death-seeking Sans, he could handle; that was only a matter of time.

The Man Who Speaks In Hands would follow soon after.

Out of all the Gasters, he would openly admit to being terrified of this one. Without fear of retribution by those from his dimension who made it out alive from the slaughter.

He and Sans were among those lucky enough to have escaped with their lives.

* * *

Orange deposits you gently in your chair, taking a few extra seconds to float the bitties onto the table. Teacup and Violet instantly go to scramble on top of one of the unopened food containers, a race of sorts that Violet allows Teacup to win. Curly goes to snuggle into your arm, creating a comfortable hoodie-sleeve nest with the sleeve on your non-dominant hand.

“O-okay, so each container is numbered. T-tale, Wheatley, and Fell’s numbers a-a-are one, two, and three; though i-it doesn’t matter which of those numbers you grab. Orange, your “m-meat lover’s” pasta is five; Undyne and I are sharing our seafood p-pasta, which is number four.” Alphys says, receipt in hand. “T-the bitties c-can eat… u-uh... Well, th-they can eat a little bit from every meal. S-since, u-uhm, I, u-uh…” Alphys’s scales tinge with pink, her tail flicking side to side like a cat’s. You swear that you see Undyne pull out her cell phone to take a picture of her flustered dino, but you won’t tell anyone. Yet.

“It’s okay. We’ll just eat something from Wheatley’s food, maybe some of the meat from

Orange’s food. We don’t eat much.” Curly assures her, smiling understandably at her. “Even a children’s size would have been too much for all four of us to eat in one sitting.”

“Oh… W-well, alright then.” Alphys seems to feel better, especially with Teacup and Violet nodding along with Curly’s words. “Teacup, V-violet, could you hop off of that container? T-that one’s mine.”

You hold out a hand for the bitties to climb on, both skittering aboard. Teacup settles on your shoulder and grabs your ear for support, whereas Violet settles into the palm of your hand. You gently move to deposit the bitty with Curley, so that you’ll have a free hand for eating.

”Oh, Alphys?” You ask, taking your box of food from Orange’s levitation. “Do you have a dropper or a pipette of some sort? Al’s gonna need to eat and drink as well.”

The entire table falls silent. Undyne’s cheeks flush a sea-blue, whereas Tale’s flush a slight orange.

“I, uh… I’ll go get it.” Undyne moves faster than your eye can catch, darting down a hallway to what you presumed was hers and Alphys’s bedroom. You turn your attention to Tale, eyebrow raised at that sudden display.

“We… Uh, forgot to feed him. Or give him something to drink.” You’re surprised by just how quiet Tale can actually be, but that was quickly overshadowed by a stone-cold calm.

“Can you get him for me, please?” The calm in your own voice surprises you; you didn’t see the matching looks of surprise from Fell and Orange, both of whom could more than likely sense your inner rage.

Tale stands and carefully collects a lidless shoebox from the kitchen counter behind him, one that you hadn’t seen because he was in the way. He sets it in front of you, and you peer inside.

Al looks much better than he had before. He still very obviously needs a bath, but you know that would have to happen after food. He has a handful of small, hairline fractures in his ribs where you knew the worst of the damage had been, and his tail has been mostly repaired—it would forever have a small part bent upwards, but perhaps that would go away with time. He has some fractures on his skull, but those seem much older than what was healed that day; it appears to be a form of skeletal scar tissue, for lack of a better word. Overall he was much better than he had been when he had been found.

Al looks up at you from within his box, but doesn’t move much more than he needs to to look up at you. He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is a dull croaking sound that makes you wince.

“Here, we’ll stick with the one blink two blink thing until Alphys comes back with water. Sound good?” Al’s eyes fill with gratitude, and he blinks solidly once. You smile warmly at him, now oblivious to the others in the room as your heated rage melts away.

“So, is it okay if I keep calling you Al? I’m… not about to call someone Daddy, but I’ve not problems if others do; but if the name has negative connotations, then I’ll be more than happy to think up something else--.” Blink. Good, you don’t have to feel gross creepy-crawlies whenever you address him. Thank god for that.

“We’ve got a lot of pasta here… You can have some from mine, but would you also like some of the meat from Orange’s food? It’s cooked, not raw.” Blink.

“Do you think you could hold off on getting any raw stuff until we all go back to where me and the skeletons are living?” Blink.

“Awesome. I’m thinking about keeping you and the other bitties in my room tonight, and then getting you all a private space tomorrow. I’m thinking the room across the hall, with a spot for all of you. Do you like low to the ground spots?” Blink blink.

“Do you like big, open spots?” Blink.

“Dark spots?” Blink.

“So would a specially-made closet shelf put up about halfway up the closet be good?” Blink Blink Blink.

Well then.

Before you could question further, Undyne returns with a pipette and a glass of water.

“Sorry it took me so long; Alphy has a lot of science-y stuff in our closet.” She sets the cup and pipette near you, and then gives you and the bitty a bit of space.

You take the pipette and fill it with water, then hold it out for Al to take; slowly, he moves his arm to guide the pipette end to his mouth. He drinks up the water droplets you squirt out quickly and greedily, and you have to refill several times until he’s satisfied. Even then, you give him one or two more droplets, ignoring the table’s decision to start eating while you take care of the bitty.

“So… You feeling better now?” You ask softly, smiling warmly at him.

“... Yes.” The table stops eating; Undyne nearly chokes on her food, but Tale beams happily. You guess that his magic that detected something wrong with Al’s throat and had healed it. “Thank you.”

Your bitties jump up and scramble into the box; Teacup runs down your arm and jumps in, while Violet boosts Curly in and then clambers up the side himself. All three hug Al close, speaking in hushed voices and smiling with teary-eyed faces.

“Well then… Wheatley, Violet and Curly got your food open and already ate their fill. So did Teacup. So, set some noodles in for Al and eat what you’ve got.” Orange says, floating a fork over to you to eat. You, after looking over your mostly untouched and delicious-smelling pasta, put a really long noodle in the box for Al. Orange takes a decently-sized meat chunk from his food and sets it in the box on top of your noodle, so that Al could eat that when he was ready.

And with that, you begin to eat.

* * *

You eat the entire container of pasta. All the skeletons have enough left for a lunch tomorrow, and Alphys and Undyne split their meal perfectly; but you really, really love good pasta. You let out a soft yawn, throwing away your now empty takeout container and finishing off the water in your glass.

Al eats during the meal, consuming the noodle and the meat chunk and then asking for more. You give it to him, and after that all the bitties are fed and content. Teacup slides out of the box halfway through the meal to claim a new perch in the V of your hoodie, whereas Violet and Curly stay with Al until the meal is done.

“Well, punk, I talked with Pa-- I mean, Tale, while we were healing the bitty.” Undyne says quietly, not wanting to attract the attention of the other skeletons. “He said you’re taking him home with you, but… If something happens and Tale can’t handle it, give me a call. He’s a sweetheart, but he can’t handle lots of stressful things. Just--be careful, would you?”

“Of course.” You reply, smiling softly. “But… I think he’s stronger than anyone’s been lead to think. If something happens, I’m pretty sure he can handle it.” After a long moment of silence between the two of you, Undyne smiles, a big toothy grin that under different circumstances would have scared the shit out of you.

“You’re a good kid, punk.” She says, ruffling your hair. “Paps is lucky to have someone else believe in him like you do.”

“H-hey, Wheatley, c-could you wait here for a m-minute?” Alphys asks, gently tugging on your sleeve and allowing Undyne a chance to go pester Tale. “I-I’ve got the files for the next couple of Papyruses that are going to live with you, a-and since you’re here I can go get them.”

“Sounds good to me, Alphy; besides, unless Tale has a car I’ll have to ask you for a ride home. I’m… Not going to be teleporting for a while.” The dino nods her understanding, a smile brightening her face.

“A-alright; I’ll be right back!!!” Alphys scurries off towards what you now aren’t so sure was her bedroom, leaving you with the bitties and your skeletons.

Wait, your skeletons? When had you started thinking like that? You ponder this, looking at a Teacup that has nestled himself in the V of your hoodie.

“ **So… Tale volunteered to drive us all home. Orange’s offering to teleport us home, since… Well, let’s just say that Tale isn’t very road-safe.** ” You sigh, looking up at Fell.

“Well… I can drive. If you can get me the keys, I’ll get us home.”

* * *

Orange teleports himself home, and Alphys gives you some files with instructions to not read them until you get home. Fell, much to your internal frustration, isn’t able to get the keys from Tale. As such, you have to participate in the most terrifying car ride of your life; white-knuckle grip on the door with one hand, the other holding the box containing the bitties and the files close to your chest. Fell is no better, though he opts to sit in the backseat with you rather than the more terrifying front seat. Fell is right, Tale is a terrible driver.

 

Still, you’re home now, and you stumble up the stairs straight to your room. You set the manilla folders on your bed over your pillow, and set the box on the floor so that the bitties could climb out as needed.

“I’m going to take a bath and go to bed. Bathroom’s the door closest to the window.” You inform the bitties, offering your hands to allow them to climb out and explore. “Try not to wreck my stuff, and if you need me for something I’ll leave the bathroom door open.” With that, you lift all the bitties out of their box and place them on your bedroom floor, grab your pajamas, and fill your tub with fantastically warm water.

Just as you began to strip, you heard a soft squeak of surprise from behind you; you glance over your shoulder, spotting Curly looking up at your back with a mixture of surprise and horror; your heart skips a beat, thinking he was looking at your arms or your legs, until you realize that his eyes are glued to your back.

“What… What happened to you?” He whispers, pointing up at your back. “Is-- Is that a brand, o-or something?”

“What do you mean?” You question, confused. Your back hasn’t been hurt at all. You don’t have any scars or anything on there, except--

Oh.

You chuckle, smiling gently at Curly. Teacup, Violet, and Al are all looking at your back with matching looks of worry and concern.

“It’s a tattoo. Well, three of them. I paid for it myself; doesn’t it look cool?” One of your best friends is a tattoo artist; he works in a hospital. In fact, the hospital hired him, saying that “if people wanted tattoos and something went horribly wrong, they’d already be at the place to take care of them.” You remember that you had sketched out the super awesome metal clockwork wings several months ago and your friend had offered to tattoo them for you in exchange for also tattooing a protection charm to your skin for the overall price of one tattoo. The wings started at your shoulder blades and extended down your arms to your elbow, the longest feather wrapping around to the front of your arms; the good luck charm was situated in the center of your back, a small circle with carefully placed symbols. Your friend was into all kinds of magic, and he’d made double and triple sure that your protection charm would actually work.

“Didn’t it hurt?” Teacup asks, hesitantly stepping into the bathroom, toes making faint clicking noises on the tile.

“Well… Yeah. But it wasn’t super bad. It kinda depends on a person’s pain tolerance, really.” The others trickle in, looks of worry slowly fading to looks of wonder.

“Is it permanent?” Violet asked, gently placing a hand to Curly’s shoulder as you tossed your hoodie into the corner of the bathroom.

“Yeah. Real tattoos are, though there are some that’ll go on with water that don’t stay for longer than a week, and airbrush ones that last about a month.” Your pants and boxers join the clothes pile. You rather liked your body, and you had the distinct feeling that there wasn’t much that the bitties would worry over. Scars included, thank goodness.

“If you knew it’d hurt, why did you get it?” Al asks quietly, voice surprisingly deep for a bitty. You have a feeling that if he were Papyrus-sized, his voice would be much deeper. Not ominously so, just… deeper than it is at that moment.

“Because I’d always wanted a tattoo, and because it looks freaking awesome. Heck, I’ve been planning on getting more.” They bitties’ eyes widen in surprise; before they can comment further, you step into the tub and sink into it’s warmth. Your phone buzzes from your pants pocket, but you’re more concerned with just how good the heat feels on your weary muscles. Your eyes slide shut in total contentment, and you don’t move until the sound of a small splash makes you peek at the source.

Teacup splashes into the tub and balances on your shoulder, one hand on your ear for stability; Violet dangles their feet into the tub water, leaning back and relaxing; Curly was in the process of removing his shorts to jump in, presumably unaffected by a lack of air since he was a water elemental; Al slowly eases himself in to sit on your free shoulder, warm water doing wonders to ease his apparent soreness.

“Everyone’s taking a bath, then?” You murmur softly, smiling warmly at the bitties slowly joining you in the warm water. “Don’t let me fall asleep in here for too long; wake me up when the water gets cold.”

* * *

You drift in and out of sleep for about an hour, until Curly climbs up your chest from the bottom of the tub and gently pats your chin. He seems to be a bit bigger now, though you assume he had been bigger before his abandonment; dehydration is bound to cause a water elemental bitty to absorb water, since it’s pretty much what they were made of.

“ ‘s getting cold.” He murmurs softly, snuggling up on your chest.

“Alright.” Before you climb out, you carefully scoop up and deposit each bitty to the floor outside the tub; you silently wish you’d thought to get them all little washcloths to use as bath towels before you’d climbed in.

You climb out, dry off, and pull on your pajamas; you then dry off each of the bitties before placing them on the floor of your bedroom. You realize that you don’t have pajamas or any clothes for the bitties, but none of them seem to mind one bit. It was something you’d have to look into tomorrow.

“Hey, Wheatley, don’t forget to read through the files that Alphys gave you.” Violet calls out, already scrambling to the top of your bed--a race with Teacup, you guess--as Curly and Al wait patiently for you to finish brushing your teeth to carry them to bed with you. You assume that none of them could teleport; That, or they were just too weak to do so. After all, you had no idea what these bitties could do or how long it would take for their magic to replenish.

“I’ll read them in the morning.” You reply, grabbing your phone from your discarded pants and trotting into the room. You scoop up Al and Curly, gently placing them on your pillow before scrambling up to join them; Violet reaches the top of the bed first, while you scoop up a now slightly salty Teacup. You realize that you forgot to ask Orange the questions you had for him; you’ll ask in the morning.

“Goodnight, everyone.” You say, pressing a gentle kiss to Teacup’s skull before scooting under the covers to a chorus of soft “goodnight, Wheatley”s. Before you snuggle down into the embraces of your bitties, you grab the folders and place them on your bedside table, underneath your phone.

 

You’ll have plenty of time to read through them tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!!!
> 
> I would just like to thank the handful of people who watch the update blog for this fic, house-of-papyrus.tumblr.com
> 
> It means a lot to me that people are willing to seek out that extra content, like how I envision the house setup and all that jazz, along with exclusive chapter sneak peaks and the like :3
> 
> Have a lovely day, everyone!!!


	7. Authors note #2

Hello, everyone!!!

So, I haven't been keeping up with this fic as well as I should... that's my bad, really. But Moontamble and I have been working hard on our collab chapter, and it'll either be this next chapter or the one right after it for me. For moontable, itll be their next chapter.

I just wanted to keep you all up to date, as well as being like "yes I am not dropping this fic do not worry it shall have update."

Thank you, and have a lovely day!!!


	8. Author's Note #3

Hello, everyone!!!

I wanted to apologize for the delay in chapters. I've started college, and while it's super exiting and new it's also very draining. I've managed to miss three classes due to oversleeping, and I'm trying to fix my schedule to give me the time to get to those classes on time without oversleeping or skipping breakfast.

I'm doing my best to get the next chapter out, and I hope to have it published sometime in the next two weeks. That being said, I (and my beta reader, also a college freshman) do have my first midterms coming up in pretty much all of my classes, so I'm not sure if that will happen. Still, I really want to get the next chunk of the story out to you all!!!

Thank you all for your patience and for sticking with me--it means a lot to me, and I cannot thank you enough.

 

I hope you all have a really good day today, and that you all enjoy something wonderful and relaxing today.


	9. Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reader-Chan preps for a day out with Alphys.
> 
> I'm so, incredibly sorry for the delay in this chapter!!! College has been a pain to balance and this chapter was agonizing to write, but here it is!!!  
> My lovely beta reader didn't go over this chapter because I wanted to get this out as soon as possible, so if there's wording that doesn't make sense then please let me know!!!
> 
> Gentle reminder that this fic has a tumblr--> the url is house-of-papyrus.tumblr.com

_You are in nothingness._

_You are in darkness._

_You_ _are_ _the darkness._

_You pick a direction and walk, a single step at a time. Deeper into the void you go, dark, darker, yet darker still._

_You could not see your hand in front of your face._

_You weren’t sure if you had hands._

_The darkness felt… familiar. As if it were an old friend, someone you had known for years and could count on without fail._

_The darkness felt foreign, unsafe and hazardous. It felt as if you had walked into a gang neighborhood, in the colors for a rival gang._

_Still, you wander through the darkness. You weren’t sure what you were looking for or why you were there, but you feel as though you shouldn’t be there._

_In the distance, you suddenly are able to make out a faint speck of a color. It seems to be a whitish red, but you couldn’t be certain._

_You walk towards it._

_The speck does not get any bigger, nor does it seem to be getting any smaller. It was as if you were on a treadmill--the more you tried to get closer to the splotch of color, the less progress you made. So you stopped walking._

_You place your hand out--what you assume was your hand, out-- and encounter something hard. Something sturdy, something like glass or smooth stone._

_You could not get to the splotch of color._

_The splotch of color stayed far, far away from you._

_Something touches your shoulder._

_You scream--you try to scream--but the void swallows the noise whole. You turn around, backing up only to find that the barrier was no longer there._

_The man with the cracked mask. The… goopster with the cracked mask. And many, many hands._

_He seems worried, concerned; he signs things to you in what you believe was a version of ASL, but you didn’t understand._

_He glances behind you, and his signing became more panicked and rushed. You turn to look--the white-ish red splotch was closer, was getting closer._

_The man who spoke in hands tapped your temple with his hand._

_You determine, before the reddish white-ish blob got any closer, that you did not like the reddish white-ish blob._

 

_A voice whispers in the back of your mind:_

 

_“All Are Lost Within the Sands.”_  

* * *

You awake to the sound of your alarm going off. You groan, exhaustedly reaching over and turning off the device. You feel as if you just ran a mile and a half. You blink the sleep from your eyes, and read the time on the clock.

7 o’clock.

It felt like you were 15 again, and you were in the middle of the school year and you had just woken up at 5:30 in the morning and had to get up to catch the bus. You felt that tired, that exhausted, that drained.

You grab your phone, hoping to see something to keep you up and awake before you inevitably drift off back to sleep--something gently tugs at your earlobe, making you jump in surprise.

“Good morning...” Teacup murmurs softly, a smile in the sleepy bitty’s words. “Don’t forget to read th’ files.”

The other bitties are still asleep--Al seems to have curled up around Curley and Violet in the middle of the night, and was resting on the pillow next to your head. With a soft sigh, you turn your head and press a kiss to the top of Teacup’s skull.

“Good morning, sleepyskull. I’ll read the files in a bit, don’t worry.” You assure him, laying back down and turning your phone on. “I just want to check my messages first.”

The blinding light of the phone screen makes you blink dazedly, and it takes you a moment or two to clear your vision. You have notifications from your email, your tumblr account, and your twitter--what catches your eye is the text messages.

You have texts from five people. Well, four humans and a monster. But you digress.

First you check the texts from your mother--she was a sweet woman, one who managed to raise you with the absence of your father. She’d done a good job in your personal opinion--who else would have taught you to stand up for yourself, that no meant no and only yes meant yes, and how to patch yourself up after a fight? Your school system certainly wouldn’t have done so, and she took it upon herself to teach you that. She’d also allowed you to have a single plant to grow weed in your home to keep you away from the chemical-filled street weed, which you’d never bothered to keep alive. You smoked weed once, and had had a bad reaction to it. Same with most other recreational drugs, alcohol included.

_[Text From: The Real MVP]_ Hey sweetie!!! How’s your new job? Do those skeletons treat you well?

_[Text From: The Real MVP]_ Your Uncle said you found some bitties!!! Can I see them? :3

_[Text to: The Real MVP]_ The job’s pretty nice. The skeles are pretty clean, but I suspect they dont know how to clean a tub. And I’ll ask the bitties if they’re okay with a pic--most of them are sleeping rn, and sleeping peeps cant consent.

You love your mother. She’s honestly The Real MVP, even if you banged heads sometimes. And had your Uncle keep tabs on you. Speaking of your Uncle…

_[Text From: Better Than ‘Pool]_ Hey kiddo, what’s with the new job? Why skeletons? Why a fucking MAID position??? 

_[Text From: Better Than ‘Pool]_ You’re overqualified for this shit, what’s the reasons?

Your Uncle was… a strange person. You loved him, really you did. But he could be incredibly overprotective. 

He had a very good reason, though. That reason being that he was a mercenary, and didn’t want you or your mother killed like your dad had been. Really, he was great--he was just overprotective as all hell.

It was annoying, even though you knew he meant well.

_[Text To: Better Than ‘Pool]_ Hey, it paid better than the old job. Besides, I wanted to try something new.

_[Text To: Better Than ‘Pool]_ ‘sides, they’re all sweethearts. Only monster who might have some LV is Fell,  & he’s been nothin but kind 2 me. I might b a replacement brother to him tho, since his Sans is involved w/ another project like mine

Your Uncle liked to vet everyone you knew, make sure they weren’t assassins or other mercenaries sent to gain your trust only to kill you. You knew most of the folks your Uncle knew though; perks of being 21 and having a job as a bartender in the seediest part of your old town. Still, he liked to air on the edge of caution--the friends you had kept were the ones who had passed his inspection. Your best friends were the ones who’d stayed after meeting him: Sam, Cassio, and Andor.

_[Text From: Lúcio]_ Hey Wheat, how ya been?

_[Text From: Lúcio]_ Andy and I have a new tattoo design; you wanna stop by sometime and get it sharpied on you to see if it’ll look good?

Cassio was your closest and most beloved best friend. He and Andor ran a tattoo parlor in the mall nearby; the two were a power couple and loved each other to bits. They were also married to each other, and you’d been Cassio’s best man.

_[Text To: Lúcio]_ I’ve been good!!! Got a new job, I’ll tell u about it later. Also the sharpie thing sounds good, I’ll see if I can get there sometime today? I’ll text you the details later.

Your lips curl up in a small smile, happiness bubbling in your chest as you remember the wedding. The two had been so nervous, but so ungodly happy… To say you’d been proud that day would be an understatement.

_[Text From: Sammeh]_ Heeyyyy my dude, your mom told me you got a new job!!! Any cuties there? ;3c

_[Text From: Sammeh]_ Do you need bone puns? Because I can hook you up with so many~

Sam was a sweetheart. She was a wizard with gears and metal bits and bobs, and worked at the auto repair shop near the mall that Cassio and Andor worked at. You’d known her since grade school; she’d been your buddy on several class trips, and you’d even dated her in high school for a little while before determining girls weren’t your type. Still, you two were incredibly close friends, and you loved her like a sister. You knew her affections towards you were also strictly platonic; no awkward date advancements here, thank god.

_[Text To: Sammeh]_ Imean if you’re into skeletons then sure they’re cute. They’re tall as hell tho, be warned.

_[Text To: Sammeh]_ Also yes pls send me those skelepuns I need more for my arsenal.

Last but not least, you had some texts from Alphys. Heaving a small sigh, you click them open--you just want to sleep, but there’s no way that’s happening again until later.

_[Text From: Alphones]_ Hey Wheatley!!! I know it’s late, but I asked the other human and she’s down for shopping at like 9am tomorrow

_[Text From: Alphones]_ Or iguess today depending on when you get this…

_[Text From: Alphones]_ Anyways, let me know if you can come!

You blink twice, then re-read the texts.

You get to meet the person who took the job you’d asked for and been denied because she’d taken it. You didn’t have a problem with it; for a moment you wondered what she was like. Would she be nice? Would she be shy? Stern? Scared?

_[Text To: Alphones]_ Yeah i can probably come, just gotta check up with the skeles.

_[Text To: Alphones]_ Also hows the fishy? She doing ok after all that healing magics?

Once that was done, you set your phone to the side and grabbed the files.

There were three files, three manilla folders that were full of information on the new skeletal friends you would be getting. You didn’t have time to read through everything--you hope that Alphys put a summary sheet in the front of each one, so that you’d know the basics about the skeletons. There were things written on the front, but you’d read those tidbits later. You open them all in front of you, sighing in relief upon finding a summary on these Papyruses.

* * *

**Underlust Papyrus**

**Nickname:** **Bone Daddy** **, Skeletor**

**Occupation:** **Sex Worker** **, Sex Ed Tutor, Self Defense Teacher**

**Universe Details: Humans who fall down here tend to be at least the age of consent for their country. The Frisk of that world is a legal adult in the United States, and is older and much more feminine. Monsters don’t fight humans here; instead, they engage in coitus in order to remove the soul of the human they are with. While there is a very easy method of leading a human to overstimulation via soul “bonding,” this Papyrus has never taken a human soul.**

**Personality: While some would consider him vulgar and a slut, this particular Papyrus seems to be the most in-tune with his emotions. He will almost never lash out, and when he does he tries his best to stay calm. More often than not he will be the peacekeeper rather than the instigator, and will try to keep other’s LV to a minimum. Underlust Papyrus will never partake in coitus without consistent consent; he is a very safe individual to be around, even while in heat. Some might say he is the safest Papyrus to be around.**

* * *

**Spacetale Papyrus**

**Nickname: Cosmo**

**Occupation: Astronaut, High School Physics Teacher**

**Universe Details: Humans don’t fall into the underground in this universe. Some humans are sent up in rockets, while others were flung up there by freak accidents and died instantaneously from a lack of air. The Frisk of this universe was a child about the same age as Undertale Frisk, launched up in a rocket with the order to collect data about the monsters above. This Papyrus met them, and while he could have absorbed their soul he did not. Neither did his Sans, on his request.**

**Personality: This Papyrus is a very bubbly, happy individual. His personality is very similar to that of Undertale Papyrus, save the fact that he’s less loud. He is slightly insecure about himself, but he is very good at hiding it under jokes at his own expense. He is a safe skeleton to be around, as long as you don’t intentionally hurt him and bully him--do that, and you’ll have to face his overprotective Sans.**

* * *

**Dancetale Papyrus**

**Nickname: Salsa**

**Occupation: Dance Instructor, Professional Salsa Dancer**

**Universe Details: Humans who fall in this universe don’t fight like they do in most Undertale verses. In this universe, they dance; to avoid and send attacks, one has to dance as well. The Frisk who fell into this universe is young, but an incredibly talented ballet dancer. This child danced their way through the underground, and allegedly freed the monsters with a swing dance mixed with ballet-style breakdancing learned from that universe’s Sans.**

**Personality: Salsa is an absolute sweetheart. He loves to dance, and is an avid cuddler. He enjoys certain types of mexican dishes, and he loves teaching people how to dance. He especially likes dancing with his brother, since they don’t battle when they dance together. The best way to keep this Papyrus happy is to ask him for dancing lessons, as well as to ask him how he learned his dance style. He seems fond of keeping that information from others--it’s speculated he learned from that universe’s Grillby, but the fire elemental denies it.**  

* * *

You close the folders and set them all up on your bedside table, stretching and allowing your eyes to slide back shut. You’d love to sleep the day away, but you’d have to get up eventually.

“Hey Teacup, ‘m gonna get up ‘n start makin’ breakfast. Do me a favor and wake up the others while I get dressed?” The small skeleton nodded, yawning a soft squeaky yawn before padding over to Al and the two other bitties.

You got out of the bed, walking over to your closet and looking into it. You guess that it’ll be hot today--perks of summery-fall weather--so you pull on a white tank top and some comfy jeans. Once that is done, you toss your pajamas onto your pillow. You’re careful not to hit the sleepy bitties who just now seemed to be waking up, though of them all Al seemed the most awake and alert.

“Good mornin’ sleepyheads.” You murmur softly, smiling at the cuteness. Violet was curled up and was using Al as a pillow--The taller bitty seemed okay with that, even though it most certainly wasn’t okay for his ribs--while Curley was blearily blinking up at you, rubbing sleep from his little eyes.

“I’m gonna go downstairs and make us all some pancakes and bacon. Al, I assume you’ll want yours raw?” As you speak, you lower your hands to the bedspread in an offer to carry the sleepy little critters downstairs, where they could watch you make the food. Al scooped Violet up and nodded affirmation to your question, walking onto your left palm while Teacup and Curley meander onto the right.

You lift the bitties up to your chest, holding them close so you can shift Curley and Teacup into your left arm. Once they’re snuggled up and comfy in your chest and arm, you grab your cellphone and the manilla folders before heading downstairs.

You open the bedroom door to the sound of a loud, ominous _BANG!_

The world faded out, replaced with the darkness of a nighttime alley and the pungent smell of old and moldy garbage. Your heartbeat sped up to a mile a minute, as if it would beat out of your chest. Faintly, you could hear small voices calling your name; you were lost in a memory.

* * *

_He stepped towards you. You scooted further away, eyes scanning the alleyway for any sort of escape. There was a fence at the far end of the alley, but you doubted you could get up and run there in time._

“...ly?”

_Your eyes landed on a chunk of pipe; it was a few feet from you._

_“You know, when your uncle … ure he was lying” The man chuckled, pulling a pistol from his waistband. “I’m glad to see I was right.”_

_He took another step forward; you scooted further away, towards the pipe._

_“See, he …. close to home?’ “ He looked over his weapon of choice, as if he were considering letting you live._

“Whea….. ly?”

_“Then I found out about you, your father, and your mum. I’d have gone for you dad, but, well… Someone else got to ‘im first~”_

_He leveled his pistol towards your head._

_Your hand landed on the pipe._

_“So now… I’m going to deal with you!!!”_

_He pulled the trigger--_

* * *

“Wheatley?” A soft voice catches your attention, and you look for the source of it. Teacup looked at your face with pure worry, having climbed to your shoulder. When did he get there? Weren’t you in an alleyway? Why was your free hand pressed to your shoulder?

There was another bang, this time followed with a shout that you recognized as Fell’s voice. You’d question it, but…

“Is something wrong?” Al asked softly, one of his clawed hands reaching out to gently touch your chin. It seemed odd--then you realize he’d have put his hand on yours, except that both were full.The contact pulls your mind from events past--the alleyway fades completely from your vision and is replaced by the hallway leading to the staircase.

You see Orange peering down the staircase, very obviously exhausted and confused. His tank top was ruffled and his pajama pants were stuck up on his leg; perhaps he rolled around a lot in his sleep?

“I’m alright.” You murmur softly, hand shifting from your shoulder to rub at your temple. “Just remembered something. Don’t worry about it.” Al didn’t look convinced, but seemed reassured by your words. The others merely nuzzled into you--you have the feeling that if they were bigger you’d be trapped in a skeletal cuddle pile.

“Good morning, Orange.” You call out, startling the sleepy skeleton. He grabbed hold of the railing, preventing himself from falling. “You know what the commotion is downstairs?”

“Not a clue.” Orange replied, letting out a soft yawn and relaxing once he saw you standing there. “Doesn’t sound like cooking… Maybe training?”

You shake your head, only to be greeted by Fell’s loud shouting once again. You couldn’t make out the words, but it didn’t seem to be coming from inside the house.

“... They’re probably out back.” You muse, finally making your way towards the stairs and the kitchen. “I was about to make myself some breakfast; you want anything?”

“Only if you’re making pancakes.” Orange replied, slowly meandering his way down to investigate the others. “ ‘specially if they’ve got little chocolate chips in them.”

You nod, smiling amusedly as you make your way down the stairs and into the kitchen. You gently deposit your bitties on the counter, then walk around and gather up all the pancake and bacon stuff you’ll need.

“Al, how many raw slices do you want?” You ask, getting out a pan and some plates. “I’m going to cook some of this for myself, so you can have some cooked bacon if you’d like.”

“One, please.” He made his way to the bacon package you’d set on the counter moments before, opening it with his magic before carefully peeling out a strip of raw bacon. You look over at the other bitties, silently asking if they’d like the raw stuff too; Teacup snuck a bite from Al’s piece, but you got head shakes of no.

“Alright, then. Let’s start the pancake-making extravaganza!!!” You grin, setting up your phone to play through your favorite playlist before beginning to cook.

* * *

“ _Go get your gun, get your gun, posing penance one by one~_ ” You sing, twirling to the music as your chocolate chip pancake bakes. You’d gone through several other songs while the bacon was being cooked, and now you were in the middle of Go Get Your Gun by The Deer Hunter.

“ _Imposing penance one by one; you’ve got a virtue in a vice, it forces fate you’re takin’ lives._ ” You flipped your pancake with practiced ease, voice an octave deeper than the lead singer. This was one of your favorite songs, if not your most favorite.

“ _With all the history to guide, you’ve got a passion in those eyes--so aim it straight and true~_ ” You twirl, grabbing your unused spatula to use as a microphone.

“ _And to those who’ll die, please try to understaaaaand that for those who die we try the best we caaaaaaan._ ” You sang calmly, smiling and relaxed. You don’t notice that the bangs and clashes from earlier had stopped.

“ _With our one foot in the grave, while the other one’s kickin’ it’s way right down to hell._ ”

You twirl, humming the next lyrics as you finish cooking the bacon. By the time the song ends, the rest of your pancakes are done.

You turn towards the stairs to call for Orange and the others, but freeze.

“‘... uh…” The next song begins, but you aren’t paying attention. How long ad they all been watching you? Fell raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on your silence. Orange looked surprised, and Tale looked like he was in awe.

“YOUR SINGING IS REALLY GOOD, WHEATLEY!!!!!” Tale exclaimed, beaming. “WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO DO THAT?”

“U-uh… I’ve always been able to sing like that.” You mumble, turning back to breakfast. “A-anyways, I-I think the food’s done.”

You carefully recover your pancakes from the pan in relative silence, doing your best not to die from embarrassment. You weren’t too fond of your singing voice; you’d only meant to show it to your bitties, and that was because they were concerned for you. You pretended not to see their shared looks of confusion at your deflection.

You set the pancakes and bacon on the table, having made enough for each skeleton to have one chocolate chip pancake and some bacon. You made yourself and Orange two pancakes, and the bitties had a small one to share.

“So, I wasn’t sure if you two would be hungry. If you aren’t, then just put the pancakes in the fridge.” You state, moving the bitties from the counter to the table. “Orange, your plate is the other one with two pancakes.”

Your skeletons claim their seats, and the bitties began to tear into their pancake and bacon slice. Tale looked like he wanted to keep pushing about your singing, but chose not to voice his thoughts. You cut up your pancakes up and start to eat--you check the time, relieved to see that it was only 8 o’clock. You have an hour to eat and get the rest of your stuff together.

“So, Alphys is taking me out shopping today. I’ll be leaving in an hour--she doesn’t have enough room in the car for y’all, unfortunately.” You speak between bites, raising an eyebrow at Fell’s now slightly crestfallen expression. He… Probably just wanted to hang out that day.

God, they hoped it wasn’t a crush.

“We can all go shopping later on, if you’d like? Alphys set things up pretty last-minute, I’m not sure how long we’ll be gone.” And Fell’s face brightened a bit.

… You’d deal with that growing crush later, if that’s what it actually is.

“Sounds good.” Orange said softly, after swallowing a bite of pancake. “Maybe we can do it with all of us, once some of the others get here?”

You nod, smiling thoughtfully.

“Maybe we can go a few days after they get here. Let them get used to the house and the rest of us, y’know?”

“You could ask them what they wanna do when they get here.” Curley supplied softly, carefully eating a piece of pancake. You nod, gently patting Curley on his head.

“I’ll do that.” You smile warmly at the bitty, before digging back into your meal.

The others eat in relative silence--you aren’t sure if that’s a normal thing for all of them or if no one knows what they want to say.

“I’m going to go grab my wallet, and then I’m going to step outside and wait for Alphys. Al, Curley, Violet, Teacup, do you all want to come with?”

“I’d like to.” Curley mumbled, climbing up from the table to your shoulder. The other bitties followed suit, merely nodding rather than speaking.

You check the time.

7:45.

_Shit_.

“I’ll see you all later, then. Don’t burn the house down while I’m gone.” You smile warmly at the skeletons, and make your way up the stairs before the awkward silence surrounding the table could get any more awkward.

Once in your room, you go to grab your backpack while slipping on a comfy pair of space-print shoes. You fish your wallet from its front pocket, smiling at the lines on the front. You’d made it yourself, back when Lost.jpg was a semi well-known thing; lately, you hadn’t had the time nor the duct tape to make a new wallet.

“Al, I need a list of the stuff I need to get. Can you hold onto it for me?” You’re already getting a pen and some paper, scribbling down the items you needed to get. Clothes for the bitties, more raw meats, bitty utensils, and some snacks to hide in your room were just a fragment of the things you wrote down.

“Yes, I can.” He replied, taking the paper once it was offered to him. “You have about two minutes until Alphys gets here.”

“Thanks, Al!!!” You chirp, ignoring the faint sinking feeling in your gut. Something told you that somehow, shit would hit the fan that day.

You didn’t want to deal with that…

You hoped it wouldn’t be the person you’d be meeting for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!!!
> 
> I plan on writing really quickly to get the next chapter out sometime before American Thanksgiving, but if it's a bit later then I apologize.
> 
> As always, I can't wait to see your feedback on this chapter and I can't wait to write the next one!!!


	10. The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this chapter took me forever. ~10k words, and the co-op stuff still isn't done!!!
> 
> My Beta-reader didn't have time to read this, since midterms were happening in his college.
> 
> Moontable's version of the chapter on HoS will be coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled ^w^
> 
>  
> 
> Also-- AO3 has been glitching out for me. New comments don't show up as being unread for me, or show up in the comments tab. If I miss your valuable comments on the fic, please don't be upset; I do the best I can to see everyone's input uvu

You sprint out the front door to see Alphys just pulling into the driveway. You let out a soft sigh of relief; you hadn’t made her wait.

“Hey, Alphy! How’re you doing?” You ask, opening the passenger side door and claiming your seat.

“P-pretty well. I-I-I set things up t-to m-meet an old friend of mine. His name’s M-mettaton.” Mettaton? That name seemed… Familiar. You weren’t sure why, though. Then again, your Tumblr was full of Voltron, Homestuck, and a few of your older fandoms; you hadn’t been keeping up with the new “cool stuff” involving the monsters. Maybe Mettaton was a fashion thing? One of your mutuals _really_ loves fashion…

“Sounds fun.” You smile brightly, buckling your seatbelt as your bitties rearrange to make room for it. Curley was on the seatbelt-free shoulder, Teacup claimed the other, Al settled in the V of your sweatshirt, and Violet opted to take a nap in your hood. “What’s the other person like?”

“Well, she’s incredibly kind. She’s rather shy, but I think you two will get along.” Alphys replied, reversing the car and driving in what you assume is towards the House of San-es. Sans. Sanses.

What is even the plural for Sans???

* * *

“--And that’s why Shiro isn’t going to die in Season 2.” You finish triumphantly, only to pout a bit at Alphys’s raised dino eyebrow.

“You know, they could just put Coran as the black lion’s pilot and kill Shiro off then.”

“ _Shut your quiznak_.” Before you could argue more, Alphys pulled up in front of a large home.

It was an incredibly large structure, one that could easily house all skeletons with ease. Was Sans as tall as Papyrus? You weren’t sure.

“This is where all the Sans’ are staying.” Alphys said, amused from your prior conversation. “Y/N will be out in a minute or two.”

As if on cue, someone left the large home. She was in an absolutely adorable knitted white sweater, one that seemed to be just a tad too large but fit her aesthetic (as well as having two bitties riding in her cleavage), as well as a pair of black exercise pants. Were they yoga pants? You couldn’t tell. She was also in makeup, but not enough to be obvious. The only reason they noticed was because they liked wearing makeup when they had the money to afford it.

Alphys rolled down the window, smiling happily. She waves to grab the other’s attention, relaxed and content. For the sake of keeping things pleasant, you smile and wave cheerfully at her. She seemed nervous, and you don’t want her to feel uncomfortable.

“Hello, Y/N! Climb in, we’ve got to get to Mettaton before he gets impatient.” Y/N climbed into the car, smiling and breathing a little heavily. You assume it’s from the minute exercise and didn’t judge.

“So I’m Y/N, but I guess you already know that from Alphys shouting it out the window,” She laughs nervously--lord, she must be really shy--before continuing. “ And these two lovely gentlemen here are my escorts for this evening.” She points to the bitties riding in her cleavage, speaking with a warm smile. You don’t know much about bitties, and what little you did know was from Tumblr posts you could barely remember. What were these two? One of them had literal hearts for eyes at the moment. Was the heart eyes one a Brassyberry? And the other a YanYan? Yeah, you’d go with that.

She continues speaking, and you focus back on her while pretending you hadn’t spaced out for a moment.

“--if you’re wondering why they are riding the ‘booby express’--” She uses air quotes. Unironically. You don’t know much about her, but now you’re certain you like her solely for that piece of information. “--I didn’t want to stick them in my pocket and this seemed like the safest option.” She paused, as if thinking of something.

“... Don’t judge me.”

Her facial expression shifts from a comfortable smile to an awkward, embarrassed one; you want to wipe the look from her face. Her natural smile suited her face far better, and you didn’t want to be the reason she felt uncomfortable.

“Sorry, I’ve been rambling, I’ll just shut up now and let you talk.” Her eyes widened, seeming to realize something. “... uhhhh, I’m sorry; I don’t even know your name…”

You smile internally at that--seems like she’s the kind of person who rambles when they get nervous. It reminded you of Andor. You snap out of her thoughts as her smile tinged on fear. Nope, nuh uh, there was no way you were going to let her feel afraid of you by not responding.

“Well, in an ironic turn of events, you and I share the same name. People just call me Wheatley, though.” Honestly, you are amused by her. That doesn’t mean you want her scared of you; she’s grown on you in the 0.2 seconds you’ve known her.

“This is Al, Curley, Teacup, and Violet.” You gesture to each bitty as you say their name, introducing them to her. You glance at her bitties, deciding to try and pin them down. “I’m going to guess that heart eyes McPervert is a Brassberry, and the other one is…” You keep your voice light and teasing, so that the bitty riding on her tits wouldn’t take the comment seriously. You also pause, hoping to god that you’re correct about both guesses. “I think a Yanyan. I looked all the bitty stuff up this morning over breakfast, so…” You are a liar. A huge, massive liar. Your cheeks tinge a slight pink with the lie; you pray to whatever magical space fairy in existence that your bitties won’t call you out on it. But!!! Your heart eyes McPervert comment made her giggle. Lord, she has a cute laugh.

“Anyways, how are the Sans-- Sans-es-- how are the skeletons treating you?” You change the subject, noticing Al glance up at you with a raised skeletal brow. You hope he doesn’t call you out on your fib in front of her. “I’ll have to deal with Underlust Sans’s Papyrus sometime in the next few days… _that_ should be fun.” You allow sarcasm to ooze into your voice; you doubted that Lust Papyrus would be a horrid person, but you hoped it’d make her smile.

“The folder said tomorrow, for all three of them.” You cringed inside at Al’s tone of voice; you made a mental note to explain yourself to him once you had the chance. You don’t need to look down to know that he’s got an eye on everyone in the vehicle; his protective instincts must be kicked into overdrive.

Violet was still sleeping, judging from the soft snores emerging from your hoodie hood. Curley had gone back there once the car started moving, supposedly to keep from getting squished by the seatbelt strap. Teacup visibly restrained himself from saying anything; you were pretty sure Al had asked him not to, to keep a fight from happening between the new bitties and them.

“The Sans’s are very nice to me; well. more than nice actually…. They’re a lot like high school boys around their crush. They all have vastly different personalities and nicknames to match them! Red- like the color he’s passionate, dangerous, fiery, Blue- cool, calm, lazy, Blueberry- sweet, adorable, innocent but not completely, Science- smart, loves to do experiments, easily flustered, Actor- passionate, gentlemanly, old-fashioned, loves Shakespeare, like a LOT, G- which doesn’t say much, when he does it’s always very… well sensual and flirtatious,  Hip Hop- shy, loves to dance, sweet, Daddy- Underlust Sans, he’s very outspoken and rude, and Skullface- he’s got a tough exterior, likes to observe things, he likes singing and dancing though not as much as Hip Hop, and he only just got interested in me recently after watching me during a late night instant noodle musical number.” She speaks all that in a rush, smiling and relaxed. She laughs at the end, remembering her apparent impromptu musical number.

“So overall things have been great! Oh sorry, I got off on a tangent there without introducing my bitties, it’s been awhile since I’ve had an interaction with a decent human being so you’ll have to pardon my awkwardness.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. You didn’t mind her rambling, honestly; she seemed incredibly kind, and you’d be the first to admit that you thought she deserved that time in the spotlight.

“These two are indeed Brassberry and YanYan, from what I know Brassberry can be a bit possessive, and YanYan is as well, but these guys seem comfortable enough right now. Though, I am not responsible for anything YanYan might say-” Yanayn smirks and eyes you up and down. You do not give a single flying fuck; you chose your clothes for comfort, not looks. Besides, meme-loving fuck was the best way to look.

“UGH! Did you even look in a mirror before coming out this morning? Not like my owner is much better, but at least I gave her a hand and made sure she put on some make-up to make up for her lack-luster fashion choices! But don’t worry honey, that’s what this trip is for after all, to update those things you call clothes.” His tone reminded you of some high school bullies you’d had. Same attitude on life, same derogatory speaking manner, same ‘I totally won’ passive-aggressive little shit smile. Usually, you’d refrain from commenting--let those who are cruel stew in their own negative thoughts--but Y/N had gotten beet red. She was probably scared that you wouldn’t like her, which just wasn’t the case.

Brassberry made a soft growling noise at YanYan. Overprotective and wanting T/N to be happy and not incredibly uncomfortable seemed his style. You appreciated it.

You don’t think before you let out an unladylike snort, completely amused and 110% done with Yanyan’s passive aggressive bullshit.

“Oh, believe me honey, I did. I go by a strict rule of ‘I don’t give a fuck as long as it’s comfy,’ so you can take two steps back into your sassy little self.” You have never deadpanned something so flawlessly as you just did. You don’t think you ever will again. You have watered your crops, cleared your acme, filled your bank accounts with that comeback. All is well with the world.

You turn your attention back to Y/N, allowing that moment to live in it’s full glory.

“Don’t worry; all bitties are sentient, so if they talk shit they’ll have to deal with whatever happens afterwards. Luckily for SassyMcSmall, I don’t give half a fuck what he thinks about my outfit.” You smile happily, just to reassure her that you aren’t mad at her for something she didn’t do. You aren’t mad at Yanyan either, but you also didn’t want to be in a room alone with him after that.

Teacup opens his mouth--probably to protest the things said about you--but shuts it after Al gives him a quick glance. The car was a very small space, and Alphys was just kinda sitting there watching the bickering; you find yourself relieved that Al was there to keep the peace.

“Don’t think it’s just you either, he’s a bit of a drama queen. I think he lives to start shit, but he’s nice? In his own way, I mean he tries to help, even if he is a bitch about it.” She says, letting out a soft sigh of what you assume is relief. Brassberry laughs at Yanyan’s huffiness, and you can’t help but smile a little wider.

“Sounds like me in High School, freshman year. College is where it’s at, though; you actually meet folks with the same mindset. It’s fantastic, I’d definitely recommend it.” You pretend not to notice Teacup’s not-so-hidden puppy dog eyes to try and get Al to let him ask questions; you’d let Al keep the other quiet.

“S-s-so i-is everyone buckled up n-now?” Alphys asked, the barest hints of nervousness in her voice. She probably just didn’t want to be late, but you wouldn’t factor out her not wanting a catfight in her car.

Y/N buckles up after that reminder, careful to not squish her titty bitties with the belt.

“I think we’re all good now, if we have a wreck my boobs should soften the blow for Brassy and YanYan.” She-- she made a joke. Holy fuck, Y/N made a joke. A titty joke. And then winked. You’d pinch yourself, except that’d look weird and you don’t need that confusion. You let out an ungodly snort, trying to keep your giggles internal.

“They’re gonna get boobed to death if we crash.” That fact is incredibly amusing to you. This is never a thing you thought would happen. Or that you’d be able to say.

“A-alright, let’s go!!!” With that, Alphys took the car out of park and drove in the general direction of the mall.

* * *

“So… ‘Daddy’ is just a sleazy Sans who thinks he’ll get consent to fuck you at some point?” You can’t believe it. You thought all of Undertale’s monsters were kind, even the ones from Fell’s hellhole of a universe.

“Well, I only got to see him for about maybe half an hour before Alphys had to take him back to wherever to ‘talk’ to him. Don’t know when he’s getting back either, but yeah basically from what I gathered from our very brief meeting he was a lot like my…” That pause. That pause made your skin crawl, made you uneasy. It reminded you of your high school cheerleader friend who broke down in a bathroom stall after she’s called you while bawling after the football team had had their way with her. It reminded you how the voice of the girl you’d hated but now no longer did in your English Class in college shook when you’d found her drunk, nude, and used. It reminded you of your own voice after running home after the pipe incident due to your Uncle’s work. It reminded you of emotionally scarred, scared people.

Y/N had been through some shit… You hope it wasn’t spousal abuse, but it probably was. God, you hope she’s been getting therapy for that shit.

“Nevermind; anyway, he definitely is really used to getting his way and has a very high sex drive, also for some reason he seems to draw in people but all he really did to me was make me flustered and I think it was because of the outrageous way he acted and what he said more than anything.” Y/N shrugged as she spoke, uncertainty weaving its way into her voice like a snake. You hope she doesn’t have a sexual predator living in her home; if she does, then you will fight the literal worst thing in existance and then flip death the bird if it means she will be safe.

“W-well, h-h-he should b-be rejoining you i-in a few days. H-he should b-be acting better by then.” Alphys sounds annoyed, though that emotion is obviously directed at ‘Daddy’ and not yourself or Y/N. Man, you have to come up with something else to call the fucker…

Steve.

You’re calling him Steve now. He can fight you over it if he wants, but for now he is called Steve.

Alphys looked like she wanted to say more, but her eyes locked on something in front of the mall. You looked to where she was looking to see…

A big metal box.

A really big metal box. With yellow fluorecent lights. Balancing on one wheel.

What the fuck.

“Look! There’s  Mettaton!!!” She points and waves at the robot as they drive past to find a parking spot.

“… I didn’t think he would be a calculator…” Internally, you curse at yourself. That wasn’t a very kind thing to say, not one bit. To make up for it, you point at the closest spot to the mall. As if that’d resolve your asshole-ness. “Found a spot.”

“W-we’re here!!!” Alphys is so excited, it’s adorable. She had very obviously missed the metal rectangle thing. She didn’t even notice your sass, thank god.

She climbs out of the car as soon as it was parked, making a beeline to Mettaton. You get out as well; feeling silly, you go to Y/N’s door and open it for her. You bow at the waist, making an overly dramatic and silly arm gesture to indicate she should step out of the car.

“After you, madame~” You keep your tone upbeat and silly; she wouldn’t take it as flirting that way.

Al pokes at the bitties in you hoodie hood, making sure they’re awake. He gets two faint sleepy squeaks in response; you pretend not to notice.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Alphys and Mettaton hug tightly. The robot’s lights are flickering between yellow and red; he (she? They? You aren’t sure.) seems excited.

“OH ALPHYS DARLING~” His voice is so loud, you can hear it from where you and Y/N are. “It’s been such a long time since we’ve just had some down time to ourselves! And you’ve brought two new friends along, who I’m sure are just ecstatic to meet me! Oh, today is simply going to be divine!~~” What did you know him from? You know that voice--you suspect from your fashion blogger mutual, but you still weren’t sure--but for the life of you, you couldn’t figure out what music he sings.

Y/N appeared to politely ignore Mettaton’s speech, instead focusing on you. She giggles--god, her laugh was fantastic-- before getting seriously into her ‘role’ as a dramatic rich person while stepping out of the car.

“Thank you, Wheatley.” Her voice was that of an aristocrat, but not the pompous uppity ones. More like, she knew that if she gave an order it would be followed without hesitation. You doubted she realized she had that sort of attitude within herself.

She bursts into laughter after a moment, smiling happily. You laugh with her.

“God, we must look like such dorks right now!”

“Oh, definitely.” You shut the door behind her, then spin on your heel and lead the way to Mettaton.

“Whelp, time to greet the TI-84.” You say that softly, so that Mettaton doesn’t hear you; you don’t want to hurt his feelings.

Al pokes the sleeping bitties a bit more; this time, he gets them to peek out from the comfort of the hood.

“You sure about this?” He asks you softly, looking pointedly at Mettaton. Could he tell that you were nervous at meeting the thing? Probably. He was right up against your heart, he could feel how fast it was beating.

“Yeah.” You were being honest. Alphys trusted you enough to reveal her connection to a superstar; you weren’t about to butcher that trust. “Besides, I needed to come here anyways to pick up more clothes for y’all.” He didn’t seem convinced, but he allowed that answer to pass.

“So that’s Mettaton the superstar?” Y/N whispers that to you; apparently, she didn’t want to interrupt Alphys’s and Mettaton’s bonding either. “ I thought he would be… well… sexier?” You physically restrain yourself from asking why a Nokia isn’t sexy. “I don’t know, he’s supposed to be the biggest Monster star, he has like a hundred films on his IMDB, and he’s a box on wheels?”

“Yeah.” You keep your voice soft, but loud enough for Y/N to hear you. “Alphys told me he’s got two bodies, and that he’d be in this one on the way to pick you up. Something about more efficient power consumption or something… I’m sure if you asked him, he’d flip a switch and show you a hotter body.” That is bullshit. You’d never heard Alphys talk about Mettaton before. You’d never heard any of your skeletons talk about the robot before, either. You are lying through your teeth, and not even your bitties can call you out on it. God bless. “Personally, I’m just glad that Alphys is happy.”

Alphys notices you two are close to her, and points at you both.

“O-oh!!! Metta, these a-are the humans I w-w-was telling you about. They’re b-both named Y/N, b-b-but this one--” She points specifically at you. “-- calls themself Wheatley.”

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to finally get to meet one of Alphys’s friends!” Y/N is very obviously feeling more than a little uncomfortable, but you can tell she really wants to like Mettaton. A glance at the robot reveals nothing, but you’re sure he knows it too.

Aforementioned robot’s lights blink in what you can only describe as a joyful pattern. You have no idea _why_ , it just… is.

“Well thank you, darling! ~” He turns towards Alphys--or, at least, you assume he turns towards her.

“Why didn’t you tell me that they were so eager to meet me?!” And there’s the ego. You can tell he’s joking, but at the same time it was a joke tha tmade you just a little bit uncomfortable. You weren’t a fan of self-absorbed, pompous assholes. Mettaton continues to speak, oblibious to your internal strife. “I would’ve brought along some signed photographs or something so they could remember the occasion ~ “ Mettaton makes some dial-up noises; you hope that’s his laughter.

“W-w-well, I-I j-just told them about m-m-meeting you this morning…” Alphys’s cheeks tinge red in embarrassment, but she’s too happy to really let that bother her. You pat her shoulder, smiling warmly at her as well as Mettaton.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mettaton. The bitties seem pretty comfortable where they are, so I won’t ask them to move; Al is the one on my shoulder, Curley is the water elemental, Teacup has the kitty ears, and Violet is probably still sleeping in my hood.” You gesture at each bitty as you introduce them. Teacup and Curley wave--Teacup had decided to join Violet in your hoodie hood, and Al had moved to your shoulder.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Al’s tone gives away nothing about whatever he feels about the monster. He is simply incredibly polite.

“It’s certainly a pleasure to meet all of you as well ~ And my, my aren’t they just precious ~! I just adore bitties!~” You get the distinct feeling that if this metal rectangle had a face, that he’d be pulling a ‘omg so kawaii’ face from anime. You don’t know why, but that’s the vibe you get.

“The two riding around in my bust over here, because they refused to go anywhere else, are YanYan -on the left- and Brassberry -on the right-.  YanYan is my new self-appointed fashion consultant and Brassberry is here because he won’t let me out of his sight for more than two seconds.” Y/N spoke, not noticing Brassberry’s teal blush. The poor thing looked anywhere but into people’s faces out of sheer embarrassment. He doesn’t see Alphys sneak her phone out to snap a picture of him. She puts her phone away after typing furiously; you assume she’s texted the image to Y/N.

“So, M-metta, Y/N, Wheatley; y-y-you ready for shopping?” She smiles brightly, clearly excited for the shopping trip they’re about to do.

“Yeah, I’m ready. I’m thinking clothes, then other things? I’ve got some stuff I have to pick up. Alphys, if I end up staying later than you and Y/N can, I can just call ‘Tale and have him give me a ride.” You keep your voice calm, but still happy. You know this means a lot to Alphys, and you don’t want her to feel guilty if you don’t go home with her. You notice her glance down at Al; the bitty has your list memorized, and he also has the physical list with a bit of pencil lead to mark off what you’ve gotten once you get it.

“Alright dearies, follow me to the MTT clothing store! ~  It’s just up ahead and it’s my absolute favorite place to go in my free time!~ I love helping customers find the right outfit or accessory, it’s just so rewarding to see their smiles~ Oh, and of course, there is the newly added Bitty section; it’s a little small by my standards, but that shall be remedied with time~” Mettaton turned on his wheel, leading the group into the store.

What you learned on that five minute walking trip to the store was that Mettaton Did. Not. Shut. Up. The guy never stopped talking, not even for an instant. You were thankful when he stopped in front of the store, gesturing at it with pride.

“Ah, we’re here darlings!~” You look at the store. It’s mannequins weren’t your size. Not even close. The store was obviously created for people with Y/N’s body type; you were slightly jealous of that now.

“Goddamn finally, his IMDB didn’t mention he never shuts up!” Y/N seems relieved that Mettaton had stopped talking. Her voice was kept soft, so that only you would hear it. Yanyan, you noticed, was looking around at all the clothes as if he were a kid in a candy store. Knowing him, he’d probably try to get his owner to buy the prettiest things.

“This looks… Interesting.” You don’t comment on the act that you highly doubt these clothes will be in your size. You don’t want to hurt Mettaton’s feelings. Curley climbs up to sit on your shoulder, looking at the clothes he can see. You’re fairly certain he’s going to find you clothes that match your style. “You have clothes for different body types, like small and pudgy?”

“W-would I shop here if i-it didn’t?” Alphys has a fair point. Yuo nod, but hope that those clothes would look good on you.

“… Is there space print stuff?” Space. The Final Frontier. You fucking love space. You hope there is space print shit, more than anything else aside from there being bitty clothes that fit your bitties. Mettaton turns to face you, yellow lights flickering into a red exclamation point.

“But of course, darling!~ A very special friend of mine requested me to make an entire line of space clothing--I couldn’t object and I just _love_ a challenge. It’s not just a simple print of the galaxy on a shirt; ugh, no, I have much more class than that. Each separate piece was painstakingly designed with the utmost detail! I wouldn’t settle for anything less!” He gestures to himself with his metallic hands covered in what you could only describe as Micky Mouse Gloves. “Some are based on a particular planet, others constellations, and others still are based on the milky way or another such galaxy; though again not just a copied print out like other companies. If you’d like, I can help you pick out some clothes that would look simply divine on you~” You nod; you really, _really_ want space print stuff.

“This way we’d both have fashion consultants, and Metta does know the store, considering he owns the store and frequents it.” You get the feeling that Y/N just doesn’t want to go with Mettaton; Yanyan seemed to be getting impatient.

“Sounds like a pla--” Curley tugged your hair, looking at Mettaton as if the robot had personally offended him. “Owww, Curley!!!”

“I can pick out good clothes for you just fine.” Curley huffs, crossing his arms while pouting on your shoulder. Al sighs softly; he probably things Curley’s managed to piss off you or Mettaton.

“Don’t worry, sweetie; you get the final say on whatever I get for yself and for you.” You turn your head, pressing a small smooch to the top of his watery head. He blushed from the kiss, looking away while also nuzzing close to you. God, he’s adorable.

* * *

You’ve already gotten the bitty clothes your bitties needed. Your wallet was crying from how much all of it would cost, but they needed the items you had in the cart. You’d also added some blankets and pillows they’d requested, since you were planning on building a wooden house from scratch for them. But at that moment, you were ogling all of the space print clothes. Mettaton had been right; there were so many, all in varying patterns and styles. You snap a picture of the selection, tagging your fashion mutual who loves Mettaton with the comment ‘I want to buy all of this but I can’t TT^TT’ before overhearing Y/N and… someone else.

“... Didn’t know you’d be shopping here.” You automatically didn’t like whomever’s voice that was. It was the voice of a person who was used to getting what they want when they wanted it, with complete disregard for others.

“Yeah Bel, I was kinda kicked out of my house without any clothes other than what I had on. What the hell’s your excuse?” Y/N’s voice was tight, full of anger and other emotions that you couldn't quite place. You turned to look for her--she was a few aisles over, her back to you.

“Ouch, what’s with the third degree babe? I’m  here because it’s Decym’s favorite place to get new clothes--” Fuckboy’s facial expression shifted to what you’d call the rape face, but you’re sure he meant it to be flirtatious. His voice became softer, but you could still make out the words. “-- but enough about her. Did you think about my offer about being our third?”

What the fuck. What. The fuck. Was this guy serious?

“Curley, sweetie, can you hang out in my hoodie hood for a moment? I think Y/N is having a bit of a problem.” The bitty nodded, climbing into your shoulder ad hiding in your hood. Al seemed confused, until he spotted who you were looking at. The bitty let out a soft growl, evidently not realizing that he’d made the noise.

You make your way over to Y/N; once you’re close enough, you drape your arm over her shoulders.

“Hey Y/N, what’s up? I didn’t think I’d see you here today!!!” Your excitement is fake. It covers your rage, and allows Y/N an out. She seems confused for all of a second, but once she’s figured it out she also pretends to get excited.

“Ah, Wheatley! It’s so good to see you! I’m just out getting some new clothes for the bitties and I.” She smiles brightly at you, very obviously doing her best to ignore Fuckboy McAsshole. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, uh I’m still here ya know.” _Great_. Fuckboy couldn’t catch a clue. You turn towards him, pretending to have just now noticed him. You quickly size him up; He’s taller than you, and buffer.

You could easily handle him.

“Oh, and who are you? Some two-piece sack of meat tryin’ to hit up a gal he don’t deserve?” You force yourself to sound bored, completely disinterested in what he has to say. He isn’t worth a single hair from Y/N’s head.

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Y/N trying to keep in either a laugh or a smirk; you aren’t sure which.

Bitchface grits his teeth before speaking; good, you hit a nerve.

“Actually, I’m the one who’s offerin’ her the better deal here, sweetcheeks, I’m one hundred percent male not some walking freakshow who should’ve stayed where they were.” He smiles--yeah, that smile is the smile of someone who thinks they’ve won and is about to claim the meat reward. You wouldn’t allow that to happen. “I’ve bet those freakish skeletons she lives with now don’t even have the proper equipment to call themselves men.”

To say Y/N had a poker face would be a lie. Her eyes are narrowed, glaring at this bitch with pure rage. Her hands are balled into fists--if looks could kill, this asshole would be as dead as a doornail.

Her bittties’ magic is flaring up. Two sets of pupils are red with wisps of magic, but as of yet made no attacks towards the fucker.

You choose to snort at the man’s comments, faking amusement.

“That so? I didn’t even think you were human; you’re more like some sort of rabid dog who really ought to be put down. I mean, honestly, who kicks out a gal like this and then expects her to still like him?” Your shoulders square out. Your smile is as sugary-sweet as it is deadly; he reminds you of the man in the alleyway all those years ago, and that motherfucker was easily twice as large as you had been at the time. ”Oh _right_ , it’s twerps like you. Honey, if you want to get a woman like her, you’ll have to get a new personality, a new face--you’ll have to be a new person!!!”

Your smile drops. The arm around Y/N’s shoulder slips off of them. With two quick steps, you are in Bel’s face, voice a deep and deadly quiet.

“I’ve killed men over much less, so you had better choose your words wisely.” The only reason he wasn’t dead right then and there was because Y/N was watching. That was it. Sure, Mettaton’s business would suffer from the death, but you would gladly go to jail for killing this fucker.

Your bitties are dead silent and fully awake. They’d never heard you sound like this, or act like this; you regret that they had to see you acting this way.

Fuckboy’s expression morphs to an animalistic rage, filled to the brim of pure anger and contempt. As if that look would scare you--then again, you doubted it was _you_ he wanted to scare into obedience.

“Mind if I ask ya somethin’ toots? Have you even had a man before?” He smirks--fucking _smirks_ \--as if he’d asked the most earth-shattering question on the planet. You just chuckle your own deep, dangerous chuckle. Your voice hides nothing--it’s deep, incredibly low, and full of disgust and distaste for such a horrid human being. IF he could be called that.

“Oh, sugartits… The only men who ask that are the ones who suck dick on the low. So, how many men, sweetie? Ten? Twenty? Or are you so desperate for a nice warm glove for your tiny dick that you’ve forgotten your one true love is your right hand?” Al moves from his place in the V of your hoodie, carefully moving the rest of the bitties somewhere else. You weren’t paying attention to him--your primary focus was on the asshole and probable spousal abuser standing in front of you.

“You’re one cheeky little cunt aren’t you? Bet you think you’re so clever and so scary, well toots, let me tell you something. There’s reasons bitches like you don’t have anybody; hell, nobody but them freaks who can’t get their own kind will even try and go for repulsive little shits like you. But hey, if it makes you sleep better at night to tell yourself that you’re worth something and I’m the one with a problem, go ahead and do that doll, because while you’re doing that I’ll be six inches deep in a hot, tight cunt and won’t be thinkin’ about anythin’ else but blowin my load.” This asshole was obsessed with sex. Was he really so shallow to believe that the end-all be-all for a relationship was sex??

He chuckled before continuing, as if his words had had a profound affect on your psyche.

“Who knows, maybe the cunt I’m in’ll be hers.” Your vision goes red; Beldevere is lucky that there were security cameras in the building.

“Oh, that’s cute--you think I care how many poor sluts you’ve paid fifty bucks to fuck. Y/N’s got better taste than you, sweetie; she wouldn’t lay a finger on your dick even if you got on your knees and begged for it.” Your face contorts, into a sort of insane smirk. It was a facial expression you knew well--you’d worn it when you’d beaten the football team who’d dared to harm your cheerleader friend. You’d worn it when you’d killed the man in the alleyway with your rusty pipe. It was the grin you wore when fighting someone you absolutely loathed; poor Beldevere had made the list.

“Let me tell you somethin, sugar; if there weren’t security cameras in this building watching me, you would be dead where you stand. Besides, I don’t have to touch a single hair on your fugly little head to ruin you. But don’t worry; when I strike, you’ll remember me~” You pause, thinking of something to shatter his worldview of ‘tight, hot cunts.’ “If you really think the only thing a woman is for is being a hole for you to fuck, try a fleshlight; feels the same, costs less. It’s better than a hand, that’s for sure.”

You turn towards Y/N, about to suggest leaving when you spot Mettaton peeking over the shelves. Your smirk fades into a cheshire cat grin--let’s see if Mettaton would allow what you wanted to do.

“Oh, Mettaton; can you turn off the security cameras pointed towards us and then turn around for a minute or two?” Your voice is shockingly calm and kind-hearted; you aren’t mad at Metta after all, and you’d be more than willing to take your emotions out on a pillow should you be denied.

“Alright, I’m going to do ‘routine maintenance’ on the cameras everyone; I’ll be away for awhile and they’ll be disabled.” His voice is far less eccentric than it was earlier; once he leaves, your eyes go to the cameras. The little red light on them flickers off after about a second, and you turn back towards Belvedere. Your hate-filled smirk is back in place.

Bel is visibly shaken. Sweat forms on his forehead, and his gaze flickers from left to right. He Does Not Want To Be There. He turns to run--

One of the bitties creates two canine-like floating heads. In ordinary circumstances you’d find it cool and interesting; right now, you’re glad that they block Belvedere’s escape. Their eyes glow ominously, and their presence halts the bitch right in his tracks.

You decide to remove your hoodie. In one swift, fluid motion, the hoodie is off; you carelessly discard it to the floor. You know your plethora of scars are showing, even though the worst are hidden by your tank top. Y/N would be able to see your kick-ass metallic angel wings tattoo.

“Y/N, could you remind me that that’s there when I’m finished?”

“Um, yeah, of course, Whe.” Her voice sounds scared--a normal reaction--but also energized. Which, considering the circumstances, is also incredibly valid.

Bel turns, looking confused by your lack of a hoodie.

“What’s with the stripping?” Oh, you’d spell it out for him.

“It’s so that I don’t get your blood on my favorite hoodie~.” You deadpan that shit in the most sugar-sweet voice you can manage. His facial expression makes it all worth it--fear, anger, and something you can’t place. You won’t bother placing it. “Y/N, could you fill me in on exactly what this fuckboy’s done to you?” As you say that, you slide into a well-trained and well-used fighting stance. This was familiar, this was useful. This reminded you of the man in the alleyway with the pipe; this time, you were keeping someone else safe.

Y/N audibly swallows before speaking.

“Well, it’s like this: we lived together for three years. I didn’t want to have sex, he did; so what’d he do? Cheat on me. Not only that, but then he kicks me out with absolutely nothing but the clothes on my back and the phone in my pocket. He contacts me days later after I found a job and asks if I want to be their ‘third’. He basically threatened me saying ‘bad things happen to people who stay with monsters’. That’s about it, well besides today with all the insults and… yeah….” She trails off. Her voice was eery calm; the kind of calm a person has when they aren’t telling the whole story because if they do they’ll cry. Your heart aches for her, but you can’t change the past.

You nod, expression hardening. Your glare at Belvedere causes the man to shrink back; his hands were shaking a little, but you doubted Y/N noticed.

“Alright… Did he ever try to force you into having sex?” You hope to god that that answer is not a yes.

“Define forced.” You were going to kill Bel. Maybe not today, but you were going to kill him. It was only a matter of time.

“Either he raped you, tried to drug you, or tried to hold you down in order to forcefully insert himself into you. Or he claimed things that weren’t true about you to try and get you to fuck him.” Your voice is dangerously low, a hushed voice that speaks volumes. This is the calm before the storm. Y/N shifted; that was all of an answer you needed.

“I didn’t do anything to her that she didn’t have coming for her!” Bel stated, tone defensive and scared. It’s sad, really. Bel lost such a kind-hearted and wonderful woman because of his trash personality… His side ho is most definitely a downgrade.

You hear faint clicks on hte tile behind you, and then after that you notice a shadow looming over you. You know it isn’t mall security.

You’re pretty sure it’s Al.

“Brassy, could you do me a favor and put two more of those head things behind me? Thank you, dear.” Your voice is deadly calm. You give nothing away.

You sense the magic rather than see it. It felt akin to a faint tingling feeling, like a balloon was held over your arm to make the hairs cling to the static electricity. You filed that information away for later, when you weren’t about to kick ass.

“No problem, need anything else?” Thank god; you’d guessed the correct bitty.

“Not that I can think of.” You roll your shoulders, cracking your shoulders and then your hands.

“Y/N, I’m going to recommend you take about two steps back; this is going to get rather ugly.” You don’t wait to see if she moves. You move quickly; you stomp hard on Bel’s foot, followed by a lightning-fast uppercut to the man’s chin. You follow that with your elbow to his spine, then a roundhouse kick that sent him sprawled on the floor.

“Fuck, what the hell?! I didn’t do jack shit!” You wish you’d punched his nose instead of his chin. You slam your foot to his stomach, face twisted into a sneer of disgust. The force of your kick causes him to skid several feet along the floor of the aisle.

“You manipulated someone to try and get them to fuck your whore prick.” You slam your heel into his spine; you’re careful not to snap it or cause fractures, so you don’t hit as hard as you’d like to. “You cheated on Y/N, who didn’t do jack shit to you save not wanting to be fucked by your tiny, useless dick.” You move quickly, slamming your foot into his face like you’re kicking a soccer ball. His neck snaps back, but you know it didn’t hurt him too badly. You hadn’t hit him that hard. “You kicked her out of the house without letting her gather her things because you wanted to fuck your side ho, who is probably a whore. Just like you.” You shove him forcefully with your foot, forcing him to lay on his back. You crouch down, facial expression filled with fury and pure disgust with the cretin at your feet.

“So tell me: what do you think is going to get you off the hook?”

Bel’s eyes shimmered with pain and barely-withheld tears; fueled bu fear and fury towards them. He spat out some blood, face bloody and bruised. You had no regrets, save wanting to kill him.

“Oh, like I don’t know just what you want, cunt. You want me to fucking get on my knees and beg forgiveness, yeah? Well, I ain’t done nothing wrong, I’m a man who has needs. I kept her, in my house for three years, and the prude never once gave me any. The only thing I could ever get out of ‘er was a blow, I never even touched her pussy, you can ask ‘er. So what I may have cheated on ‘er, but I didn’t take her V-card, despite wanting to I kept myself under control. So I ain’t done nothin’ wrong!” Before you can speak, Y/N snaps.

“‘I ain’t done nothin’ wrong?! I AIN’T DONE NOTHIN’ WRONG?!’ Are you fucking kidding me right now?” She sounds hurt, scared, angry; good god, she’s a fucking trooper. Bel doesn’t deserve someone like her. “So forcing me to suck your fucking cock and practically choking me on it isn’t bad enough for you? Well, how about this for ya buddy! I woke up every fuckin’ morning scared shitless that today might be the day that my ‘lover’ decides to say ‘fuck it’ and just force himself inside my most intimate area just like he fucking does with my mouth! But ya know what? Despite that I stayed, yeah, because I told myself ‘I love you’ I had myself convinced that you were the one for me; I kept seeing that same sweet, kind boy I did fall in love with, but now I don’t think that guy ever even existed! You were the only kind of emotional support I had, and you fucking to full advantage of it! I had nowhere to go, no family or friends, only you, and you USED ME!” You can tell she’d never spoken about that to anyone before. Her voice is filled with agony and pain and full-blooded hatred and loathing. Your heart aches for her; Bel is no longer a human being in your eyes.

“Now, Bel, The only reason you aren’t dead is because that would give Metta too much bad publicity.” You speak to him as if he is inhuman. He does not deserve to be human, to feel love and joy and ecstasy. He deserves suffering, fear, and the emotional trauma he’d decided to put Y/N through. “Y/N, what do you think is a fitting punishment for him? I’m sure we could find a pole or something and make him gag on it, pretend it’s his useless prick or something.” You turn to look at Y/N; instead, you see an absolutely and utterly furious Al instead.

You look Al in the eyes, silently asking im to keep Bel from leaving; the tall full-sized bitty obliges, walking to Bel with each ominous step making a click against the floor. He crouches down, pressing a talon to Bel’s throat; he only draws a tiny bead of blood.

“Don’t. Move.” You are very, very glad that you are not in Bel’s position.

You scoot around the Gaster Blasters, eyes locking on Y/N’s tear-streaked face. Her makeup wasn’t smudged, but you assumed Yanyan had had her put on the waterproof stuff.

You pull her into a tight hug, careful not to squish the titty bitties. You want her to feel like she’s loved and that she matters, but you can’t find the words to say so. You want her to think that she’s beautiful and that she hasn’t been damaged or ruined by what Bel did to her. You want her to feel special, important, like she’s more important than anything else in the world.

“I’ve got a therapist that I used to go to, back when I was in college. He’s in the area, I can give you his number after we all go out for ice cream after this.” Your voice is gentle, calm, caring; it’s completely in contrast to the tone you’d used just moments before with Bel. You aren’t mad at her--you just want her to be okay.

She hugs you back, though not as tight as you’re hugging her. You feel her smile--a shaky, weak smile, but a smile nonetheless.

“I’d really appreciate it; as for _him,_ I don’t think he’s worth the trouble... but if you really want to do something to him I won’t be opposed to the idea.” You nod.

“Alright--Hey, Yanyan; do me a solid and tell Metta and Alphys that we’ll be paying and going for icecream in about ten minutes? I’ll only need five, but those space hoodies are calling to me.” You don’t check to see if Yanyan does as told; you turn towards Bel, face returning to it’s prior disgust and pure hatred.

You re-enter the fighting area, gently tapping Al’s shoulder to let the bitty know he can step back again. Al complies, but not before adding a touch more pressure to Bel’s neck as a firm warning.

“Get up.” Your voice is as sharp as ice, as deadly as a serrated knife, and as furious as a mother cat who just witnessed their kittens being stolen. Bel is lucky that Y/N is watching, and that they’ve just thought of Mettaton’s ruined image if he ends up dead in the monster’s store.

He gets up. This alone surprises you; then again, it was heavily implied that you’d kill him if he didn’t. He was obviously scared, eyes watching your every move with pure fear. You feel no pity towards him.

“Why the hell you want me on my feet anyway? Goin’ kick me down again?” Yes. Yes you were. But you were also going to lie about that. Your response to his question is a raised eyebrow.

“No; I’m giving you a fighting chance, hon. Knock me out, and you can leave without me breaking your legs.” He doesn’t have the upper body strength, nor the training or speed. Al growled nervously--the bitty obviously didn’t want you getting hurt.

“Fine, I’ll play along, but remember ya asked for it.” Bel smirks, suddenly cocky. He apparently forgot the prior five minutes.

He throws the strongest right hook he can.

You catch his fist before it even gets close to your face.

You look him dead in the eyes, slowly adding pressure to the fist in your hand until you can feel the bones grinding against each other.

“Well, would you look at that; I asked, and I received. Just what the doctor ordered~” You aren;t going to stop. Not until he screams, a bone breaks, or he starts begging for forgiveness.

Bel sounds like a dying animal. He lets out a keening wail, a few tears slipping out of the man’s eyes; you doubt he noticed. Men like Bel focused on revenge rather than on the pain they were feeling--you were sure you’d be able to handle it.

“You know, I never got your name. Not that it matters; I’ve got a special place in Hell reserved just for folks like you.” Bored of crushing his hand, you drop it; you follow that action up with a kick to the jaw, sending him several feet back to land on his back. You hope he landed on the part you’d hit earlier.

You close the distance between his prone and pained figure, placing your foot firmly on a kneecap.

“Hey, Y/N--Femur, Fibula an’ Tibula, or the kneecaps?” The look of pure fear on Belvedere’s face is the best thing you’ve seen all day.

“Whe, Bel isn’t worth all this effort. I know he’s a piece of shit, and you know he’s a piece of shit… we don’t need to stoop down to his level Whe. I think he’s learned his lesson, I mean he looks like he’s going to piss himself if you look at him cross-eyed. So let’s just go get some ice-cream, have fun, and enjoy the rest of the day together, yeah?” You can hear how uncomfortable she is. You’re sure that she’s thinking your actions make the two of you as bad as him; you doubt that it does. He murdered someone’s peice of mind and safe space in a loving relationship; you’d just have been breaking some bones. Besides, bones heal faster than mental trauma.

“You’re right…” You nod at her words, letting out a soft sigh. You proceed to look Bel dead in the eyes, voice getting deadly serious.

”If I ever hear about you contacting Y/N ever again after today…” You let out a deep, dangerous chuckle. It is one that put all others to shame, in your personal opinion. “ Well, to say you won’t like the results will be an understatement. So, here is my parting gift to you~”

You get up, as if you were leaving; you spin around, slapping your foot straight to his crotch. The force of the kick sends him scooting backwards a few inches; that hit is the most satisfying one you have ever dealt in your life up until that moment.

You look at your knuckles, sighing. You’d gotten Bel’s blood on them… You didn’t want blood on the outside of your hoodie.

“Damnit, Bel, I got your blood on me…” You wipe it on your tank top, letting out another sigh. “Still, I was gonna chuck this tank top anyways.” You grab your hoodie from the floor, pulling it on and carefully avoinding getitng blood on the front of it. You glance down at your legs--they’re blood-free. God bless.

Al goes from being his tall self to his normal small self. He climbs up your leg and settles himself in the v of your hoodie; once he’s done so, you notice the animal skull things are still in the air.

“Hey, Brassy; you can drop the skull things now. I don’t think Mr. Waste of Oxygen is going to be able to walk for at least half an hour, if not more.” Not your best insult, but you didn’t care; you doubted Bel would want to speak to you for a long, long time.

“Sure.” He removes the blasters from existance, expression unreadable. He had perfect timing, too; some random girl ran over after a few seconds of them being gone.

“Oh my! Bel-Bel, what happened here?!”

“Nothin’ just got mugged. Y’know how it is in the city. Give me a minute here and we’ll leave.” Bel’s voice is strained, and he’s clutching his crotch. You’re glad he has to suffer.

“Mommy, pick me up~!” You glance down at the source of the voice--yep, there’s Yanyan, demanding Y/N pick him up. Y/N obliged, putting him back on her titties so he could be comfortable.

“Let’s go meet Metta and Alphys now Whe, I’ll even be your lovely escort for the evening.” She winks, looping her arm through yours. You were sure she was burying her emotions to handle later on, but you wouldn’t point that out. Instead, you wink back, smiling warmly at her.

“If you insist, my lady.” You do a silly eyebrow wiggle, just because.

Your bitties transfer back onto you, Curley gently pats your cheek to get your attention.

“Don't forget the space hoodies you wanted to get.” He really is a sweetheart; he remembered to remind you. You use your free hand to gently pat the top of his head, smiling.

“I can come back for them later, sweetie. Besides, I've got clothes for you all to pay for that won't be back in Stock for awhile.” You notice the anime section--or as you’d call it, the Weeb Section--and point towards it.

“Five bucks says Alphy is there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was difficult to write. Not because it was pre-planned, but because of the sheer volume of words.
> 
> I'll look into the comments for the chapter once it's been out for a little bit; I can't wait to see what you have to say for this chapter!!!


	11. Author's Note #4

Hello, everyone!!!

I just wanted to let you all know two things: One, I plan on posting the next chapter of this fanfic sometime between November 19th and November 21st, so keep your eyes peeled!!!

 

Second, from Thursday, November 17th from 12:00pm EST, to Friday, November 18th to 11:59pm EST, I'll be hosting a "ask me all the questions you want to ask me" on the tumblr blog for this fanfic, house-of-papyrus.tumblr.com

No questions are off the table, and anything goes!!! However, don't expect a clear-cut answer for spoilers questions :3c

Anonymous questions will be turned on, both for those who don't have tumblrs and for those who are shy (but don't worry, I don't bite!!!), as well as submissions.

 

In case people haven't got a clue how tumblr works, I'll give a quick rundown.

* * *

 

To get to my blog, click [right here](http://house-of-papyrus.tumblr.com/).

Once there, you should look at the upper right corner; click on the Questions tab and you'll be able to send me asks from there.

If you're on mobile, the ask link should be under the blog description.

* * *

 

I look forward to seeing your responses to the fanfic, as well as the questions I'll get during my free-for-all ^w^

 

Have a lovely day everyone!!!


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